The Immortal Slayer
by SlayerWillow
Summary: There's a new big baddie in town and a new slayer to fight it.
1. Default Chapter

Sitting in front of her computer Willow tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, frustrated. She wanted to get this done tonight. Once more she looked over the HTML, trying to catch the mistake she knew she had made. Scrolling down the screen she found and corrected the problem. Finally her website was done. Clicking on her FTP link she sent the page. As the website loaded she sat back to admire her work.  
  
The idea had come to her about a month ago, although she had just decided to go with it a week ago. She had been working so hard on getting it done that she had even managed to neglect some of her schoolwork. Her friends had no idea what had really been taking up all her time either. None of them were into computers like she was, and she figured getting them excited about the finished product would be hard enough, let alone a work in progress. The premise of the website was to allow people who knew of vampires and other demons to talk and trade notes anonymously. Hence the name she had come up with, Slayers Anonymous. Vampires weren't just in Sunnydale, so there had to be other people who knew of them.  
  
Glancing down to the clock on her computer, Willow quickly returned her thoughts to the present. 12:21 a.m. Time to get some sleep. She shut down the computer and climbed into bed wondering what the gang would think of her website.  
  
  
  
***  
  
Willow walked towards the library, doubts growing in her mind. Nervously reaching for the doorknob she told herself "This is a good thing. Once they get the whole gist of the gist they'll like it."  
  
"Hey everyone." She called out, putting her bag on the counter and heading over to Buffy and Giles.  
  
"Hey Willow." Buffy called out, barely turning her attention from the conversation she was having with Giles, who simply gave a small nod and an inattentive, "Oh yes, Willow. Hello."  
  
"New big bad?" She asked the pair who seemed far too engrossed in their conversation for any other possibility.  
  
"Not really, but we could still use your help with that…other big bad we were researching." Buffy commented before going back to her conversation.  
  
Turning to find Xander Willow's face lit up in a smile as he balled up a twinkie package and proceeded to save the day with his winning 3-point shot in the trashcan.  
  
"And the crowd goes wild." Xander said while dancing around with his arms in the air. Looking up he saw the grin on Willow's face. "Oh. Hey Will." He said, shoving his hands into his pockets.  
  
"Hey. Just the guy I wanted to see. I wanna tell you about this website project I'm working on, it's a-"  
  
"As much as I would love to soak up any computer knowledge you care to impart, I've gotta run or I'm gonna be late for…a meeting. Some other time, okay?"  
  
"Okay" Willow replied, a slightly dejected look coming on to her face. Since it was Sunday she figured the only meeting he could have today was with Cordelia. Trying to clear her mind of that thought, she sat down in front of the computer to see if anyone might have posted on her website yet. Seeing that there were no posts or members yet, she let out a sigh and wondered if this really was a good idea. Putting on her resolve face she decided to make this a success, even if she had to send out hundreds of emails and post to hundreds of message boards to get it going. She paused a moment, thinking briefly of the research that Giles was depending upon. Depending seemed to be an overstatement, Willow thought, as she glanced over at Giles and Buffy involved in their quiet conversation. Turning her attention back to the task at hand, Willow wondered what they might be discussing before her fingers hit the keys to begin her work.  
  
***  
  
  
  
"Buffy, we have to figure out this prophecy. I've never heard of anything like it. The one person who unites all the slayers of the world. This is- "  
  
"Hold up, there's more then one slayer?"  
  
"Huh, oh uhm, yes. The… uhm…Council…uh…It's forbidden…You're not supposed to know about it. I wasn't supposed to say anything." Giles replied while rubbing the bridge of his nose. Sighing he looked at Buffy, his slayer, wondering how she was going to react. Taking a breath, he began explaining the truth behind the slayers. "There are slayers strategically placed throughout the world. Only they all think they're the only one. The Council deemed it necessary for the slayers so they wouldn't, slack off, so to speak. If you were to ask the Council, they would disavow any knowledge of the other slayers."  
  
"So there are other slayers out there, who could help me here on the Hellmouth," Buffy stressed the word as she stood up. "And I don't know about them?" she finished, her voice raised with a mixture of agitation and surprise.  
  
"Yes. Now lower your voice and sit down. You must not let Xander and Willow know yet. I shouldn't even have told you yet, but with this prophecy…" he let his sentence trail off. "You were not supposed to know until the time when the slayers were united. I doubt the council will let the watchers tell the other slayers, although if they did it could be a great help in finding out who the Immortal Slayer might be."  
  
"Immortal Slayer?"  
  
"Yes, the Immortal Slayer. She is the person who unites all the slayers of the world. I wonder who it might be?" 


	2. 

Part 2  
  
"What?" Willow yelled as she stood up, knocking over her chair. Hearing it hit the floor she looked up, remembering she was still in the library. She looked over at Giles' office, but there was no sign that he had heard anything. Buffy had left earlier to run some errands, leaving Willow the quiet solitude of the library to do research. Willow looked back down at what she had just read. In disbelief she picked up her chair, sat down and looked around the library even though she knew no one else was there. Biting her lip she looked back down at the book, knowing what she was reading was the biggest prophecy they had come across yet.  
  
The words on the pages began to blur as she lost focus, struggling with herself to decide what she must do. She figured Giles would already know about this prophecy. Maybe this was even what he had been so intent upon discussing with Buffy earlier today. She read over the passage in the book again, forming soundless words with her lips.  
  
'There is one chosen one, for each of the twelve sections. They have no knowledge of the others. The Council will disavow any knowledge if confronted. Only Watchers have access to this information and they are sworn to never tell their slayer, until after the coming of the Universal One. The slayers will then unite to fight the evil of the Dark Goddess.'  
  
Willow read it through a few more times, feeling thoroughly confused. The idea that there were twelve slayers rather than one was hard to consider, especially with all the trouble they've had in Sunnydale, and no one else had shown up to help, except Kendra. But that was only because Buffy had technically died.  
  
Then after Kendra died there was Faith, but she was since long gone. Faith took off after accidentally staking a human and now no one knew where she was. Buffy had tried to find out, but there wasn't any of way of knowing if she was even still alive.  
  
As Willow pondered the concept of a Universal One, she decided to speak about it with Giles. Picking up the book she turned to start towards the office when Buffy walked into the library. Seeing Buffy, Willow had doubts as to whether or not she should approach Giles right now. Since she was unsure of how much Buffy knew about the other slayers, Willow decided to take the book home and wait until later to talk to Giles.  
  
"Hey Willow. Is Giles still here?"  
  
"Yeah, he's in his office." Willow replied, nervously tucking the book in her bag.  
  
"You okay Will?" Buffy cocked her head to the side, eyeing her best friend suspiciously.  
  
"Yeah. I'm fine. Big science thingy…due..." She trailed off, acting preoccupied with her book bag. "You know me. Science gets me giddy." Willow added, hoping Buffy didn't see right through her.  
  
"You've escalated to giddy now? We definitely have to go Bronzing more." Buffy sighed before continuing, "You headed home?"  
  
"Yep. Science. Big important stuff."  
  
"Yeah." Buffy agreed, wondering how anyone could get this excited over science. "You wanna wait around a bit and I'll walk you –"  
  
"No." Willow said, almost a little too quickly. "The sun's not even down yet. I'll be fine. I'll call when I get in."  
  
"Okay Will. Bye." Buffy answered before walking into Giles' office to discuss the Immortal Slayer some more.  
  
***  
  
Fed up with trying to find other references of the Immortal Slayer in the books available to her, Willow decided to check her website again instead. So far it was more of a message board than a full site, but as time went on she hoped to add a classification system of demons, vampires, and other big bads. After logging on she sat back, impatiently waiting for the page to load. She had sent out emails upon emails and posted to as many message boards as she could. Slowly a smile spread across her face. There was a message. Maybe not quite the jump-start she had hoped for, but it was still something.  
  
~ Love the site, good idea! I like stakes personally. ~ Anon.  
  
She quickly hit the reply button, her excitement growing. She knew it wasn't much, but it did mean that someone knew her site was there.  
  
~ Thanks! I'm not sure how to get this going, but here goes nothing. Right now I'm researching the Dark Goddess. I find it quite intriguing. Please reply if you know anything. If you want, send e-mail. ~ Saille  
  
Willow smiled. She couldn't wait to get a response. She also liked using her screenname. It allowed her to be different if she wanted. On the 'net she didn't have to be shy and self-conscious. Willow could be whoever she wanted to be. And she wanted to be Saille. Which meant Willow, according to the book she picked it out of. So she figured she was still herself, and yet not herself. She shook her head, and decided not to dwell on it any longer. After checking her email, Willow picked up one of her books again and began searching for anything to do with the Dark Goddess or the Immortal Slayer.  
  
As she flipped through the pages she began wondering if the Dark Goddess and the Immortal Slayer could be the same person. She knew she would have to talk to someone soon or she would crumble trying to figure it all out. In the middle of a page she found a sentence referring to the Dark Goddess.  
  
'The Dark Goddess is a solitary woman who will bring a race together for a common cause.'  
  
"Not too vague is it?" Willow said sarcastically. Sighing she looked back over the passage, but couldn't find any other reference to the Dark Goddess or a mention of the Immortal Slayer. All the rest of the passage talked about was the Watcher's Council. Why this sentence was stuck in the middle of a tirade about Watchers' responsibilities with their slayers was beyond Willow. As she contemplated the possibilities of the Dark Goddess and the Immortal Slayer being the same person or arch enemies, she also tried to figure out whom to tell. She knew Giles was the reasonable choice and that he would listen to her, but with whatever he and Buffy kept discussing, Willow felt as though she would be an outsider intruding upon them. The only way she would feel comfortable talking to Giles would be if she managed to catch him alone and that would be near impossible. Her thoughts then turned to Xander, but she dismissed the idea quickly enough. He wasn't big on the whole prophecy deal in the first place, and would probably accidentally tell the wrong people. The next person Willow thought of was Angel. After restoring his soul she felt as though she could talk to him, like they shared some kind of a bond now. It was a good feeling, especially since Xander was off with Cordelia so much lately. After planning her course of action Willow went to bed, satisfied with her decision. 


	3. 

Part 3  
  
"There is definitely a shortage of vamps around here." Buffy said to Giles as she walked in the library, carelessly tossing her books on the table. "I didn't find any on patrol last night. Not one." Buffy paused for dramatic effect. "It's weird. Totally gives me the wiggins. I mean, why would the vamps suddenly disappear at the same time this Immortal Slayer is supposed to be coming around? Makes me wonder what's up?" As she finished, Buffy sat down and rested her chin in her hands. Looking up expectantly at Giles she waited for him to share some sort of arcane knowledge that only he could express.  
  
"You're right Buffy, there is something weird about all this." Giles told her while rubbing his temples as if he expected to extract the answer somehow.  
  
Buffy sighed. That was not the arcane knowledge she was hoping for. "Well," she asked Giles, "do you think it has anything to do with the Immortal Slayer?"  
  
"I'm not sure Buffy. Vampires are not given to running from an opponent before confrontation. The Immortal Slayer does not even exist yet. I don't believe they are running, but they may be trying to band together and combine their forces to battle the threat after it arrives."  
  
Buffy nodded. That explanation made a little more sense. She figured that between the two options the vampires would be more likely to try and take down the Immortal Slayer together. "Giles, what was Willow researching for you? Could that be the cause of the vampires weird behavior, rather than the Immortal Slayer?"  
  
"I suppose that is a possibility." Giles conceded, although he doubted it. "She was researching the Dark Goddess. We should try to talk to her and see what she's found out. Did she mention anything about coming by the library today?"  
  
"No." Buffy replied, standing to gather her things. "She's been kinda sparse lately. She's working on some big science project or something. I'll stop by her house tonight before I go patrolling and see what's up, okay?"  
  
"Thank you Buffy. That sounds like a good idea. Perhaps we should have a meeting tomorrow evening. Please be sure to let Willow and Xander know. We need to discuss what's going on, even if we don't provide all the details." Giles felt as though his head was spinning as he contemplated just how much he should tell them and what the council would say about his actions.  
  
"I'll be sure to let them know. I'll talk to you tomorrow." Buffy headed out the door wondering what effect the Immortal Slayer would have on all their lives.  
  
  
  
***  
  
Willow was sitting in front of her computer, reading the latest messages. The site had only been up for about a day and a half, but seemed to really be taking off. She decided to scan through the messages and then go back over the ones that offered information on the Dark Goddess. As she finished looking them over in a few minutes, she realized that even though there were quite a few messages they were all fairly short and didn't say much except nice site, love the idea, and so on.  
  
Scrolling the page back up to the top she found the first one she wanted to reread.  
  
~ Hi! I've heard of the Dark Goddess. She's supposed to be this really bad chick that tries to unite forces of evil or something like that. There's supposed to be only one person who can stop her but I have no clue as to who that is. Sorry. ~ Anon  
  
Willow thought back to all the passages she had read about the Dark Goddess. None of them said anything about her being evil. None of them said much about her at all really. Willow bit the inside of her lip, lost in her thoughts. She wondered if the Immortal Slayer was the one person who could stop the Dark Goddess. Not that it helped much, because Willow still had no clue who the Immortal Slayer or the Dark Goddess was. Willow skimmed down the page, finding the next message she wanted to look at.  
  
~ The Immortal Slayer is supposed to be able to stop the Dark Goddess. Only thing I know is that they both unite their respective forces and go at it. Only problem is there are a lot more vamps and demons than there are slayers. ~ Anon.  
  
The message confirmed what Willow already thought, the Dark Goddess and the Immortal Slayer were enemies. Willow understood now why the Immortal Slayer had to unite all the slayers, but she still didn't see how it was possible. If the slayers are all strategically placed throughout the world, and no one really knows where all of them are located, then how could one person unite them? Something else had to be coming into play here. There was some loophole or some other way to get all these slayers together. Willow doodled on a sheet of paper, trying to get her thoughts to make sense. She just couldn't figure it out. Sighing, she went on to the next message.  
  
~ The Dark Goddess is the next big thing to come along, and she's going to kick some ass. Whoever this Immortal Slayer is doesn't stand a chance. Besides, there's only one slayer, so what can two slayers do against an army of vamps and demons? Good luck finding help. Ha Ha. ~ Vamp  
  
Willow sighed again. That one was cordially signed, she thought to herself. According to that message Willow figured the Immortal Slayer should be someone who wasn't already called as a slayer. She knew who to rule out now, but unfortunately that didn't narrow down the choices very much. Looking over her scribbled notes and doodles, Willow realized what a daunting task lay ahead of her and knew she wasn't going to be able to figure this one out alone.  
  
With that thought in mind she decided to head over to the mansion where Angel stayed. It wasn't quite yet dark, so they would have plenty of time to talk tonight. She was hoping he would shed some light on the whole thing.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"Um, Angel? Are you here?" Willow called out as she knocked lightly on the huge door. She always felt overwhelmed at the size of the place. It was silly, but she still couldn't help feeling like she might lose herself whenever she was around the mansion.  
  
"Willow. Come on in." Angel called, standing in the entrance of the hallway. As he was wont to do, he observed Willow's mannerisms, trying to decide why she was there. Since she seemed more nervous than usual, he figured something was up.  
  
"Oh, Hi! Uh, I was wondering if you could help me with something?" Willow asked, her whole body fidgeting. She quickly took a seat on the couch, trying to calm herself. She couldn't understand why she was so nervous; going to Angel for help was something she actually did quite often. Although since he and Buffy had broken up Willow's visits had become more infrequent. As she was trying to figure out the best way to broach the subject, Angel saved her by stating the most probable reason.  
  
"A new prophecy?" Angel prodded, saying no more than what was needed.  
  
"Yeah, it's a new prophecy. About the Immortal Slayer, have you heard of it?" Willow asked, though she could tell he had by the look on his face. Angel was surprised by what she had said, but tried not to show it. Willow found the resulting face to be rather cute.  
  
"What exactly do you know about this Immortal Slayer?"  
  
"All I really know is that this Immortal Slayer is going to unite all the slayers to fight off something. You do know there's a whole gaggle of slayers, don't you? Anyways, I think that something may be the Dark Goddess. I've been doing research on her for Giles. She's supposed to unite a bunch of people too, but according to a post on the website they're all demons and vampires. So she's the bad guy and the other one's the good guy and I think they're gonna duke it out." Willow quickly said, noting that Angel didn't seem surprised by any of this. "I haven't told anyone else. I'm not sure how Buffy would react when she found out there were other slayers, and I haven't been able to talk to Giles yet without Buffy around."  
  
Angel slowly nodded. "I follow all of that except for the website. Care to enlighten me?"  
  
"Okay, but you're going to tell me what you know." Willow said with her resolve face firmly in place.  
  
Angel quickly turned away as a small smile crept up in amusement at her determination.  
  
"I created a website called Slayers Anonymous so people could talk about vampires and demony-stuff anonymously. I didn't know there were any other slayers at the time. I didn't find that out until later. The website's really more of a big message board at the moment. It's not all that great, but it's kinda cool. And that's how I learned that the Dark Goddess is bad. From people posting on there. Okay, your turn."  
  
"That really isn't the most reliable source, is it?"  
  
"What? The website? Well, no, not really. That's why I haven't told Giles about it yet. Buffy and Xander would probably know by now, but they've been busy with other things."  
  
Angel took in the hurt look on her face and the disappointment she tried to hide.  
  
"The website sounds cool, just be careful with it. Here's what I know. The Immortal Slayer has also been called the Universal Slayer. As the story goes, they're the same person. She will unite the other fourteen slayers of the world. I don't know how, but from what I've found out I don't believe it to be literal. I don't think the slayers are actually going to meet each other. I don't even know that all of them will know what's going on. I think you're right about the Dark Goddess being evil, I've heard that she and the Universal Slayer will face off and there will be a battle ranging all over the world. I don't know how."  
  
"I found a reference to a Universal One earlier, and wondered how it tied in with the Immortal Slayer and the Dark Goddess. If they're the same person, that makes a lot more sense." Willow sighed in frustration as she realized this puzzle was no where close to being solved. "Well, it's more than I had to begin with. I still need to talk to Giles, and I'll see what else I can find out on my own. Thanks for everything." Willow stood, preparing to leave.  
  
"I'll see what I can find out from Whistler. Maybe I'll go talk to Willy too. You mind if I walk you home?"  
  
"Uhh," Willow began giving Angel a quizzical look, "There's really no need. Vampires have been scarce lately. Plus, bother. As in I wouldn't want to be one."  
  
Grabbing his coat from the back of a chair Angel shrugged it as he took in the girl, "Willow, you're not a bother. Besides, I've got that visit to pay to Willy's anyway."  
  
"If you're sure it's not out of the way…"  
  
"No, not at all." He responded while pulling open the door and waiting for her to pass through first.  
  
Willow gave him one last questioning look as she ducked out into the night air. She decided having Angel's company on the walk would be pleasant, and besides it would give her more time to pick his brain about the Immortal Slayer. 


	4. 

Part 4  
  
Back home Willow was surprised by all the messages on the website. She hadn't really thought it would do this good. Looking through them she was happy to find that most of them were about the Immortal Slayer or the Dark Goddess. She started reading them, hoping to fill in the gaps of what she knew.  
  
~ I've heard this Immortal Slayer is like THE slayer. Hope that helps. ~ VampKiller3  
  
Willow rolled her eyes and continued reading. She knew the site had helped her a lot, but she needed some new information.  
  
~ This Immortal Slayer is supposed to gain immortality during a lunar eclipse or something like that. ~ Liv4slayin  
  
Tucking away that bit of information, Willow knew she would have to keep her eyes open while researching. She had yet to come across any information mentioning a ritual.  
  
Looking through the rest of the messages Willow sighed in annoyance, most were simply repeating what had already been said. Except for the last one, that message caused her eyebrows to raise in interest.  
  
~ The Immortal Slayer has one distinct feature, long fiery-red hair. ~ watcherwannabe  
  
Willow smiled as she thought of her own hair color and let herself entertain the notion of being the Immortal Slayer. She knew it was silly, but being a slayer meant you helped the world and you also had power and respect. Willow knew in her heart though that she was not born to be a slayer. She was better suited to being a sidekick. Old Reliable is what she had named herself even. Besides, what slayers did she know besides Buffy and Faith? Tomorrow she would talk to Giles and maybe together they could make sense out of this.  
  
Almost as if by habit Willow wrote a quick message to post on the board.  
  
~ Thanks for all the info. It's a great help. Keep it coming! Bye! ~ Saille  
  
Slowly she shut down the computer, her mind preoccupied by all the information she was trying to piece together. She got ready for bed on autopilot, going through the motions without realizing what she was doing.  
  
Lying down for the night, Willow's thoughts barely let her sleep.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"Giles, I have to talk to you." Willow shoved through the doors to the library, literally throwing her bag on the table as she walked toward the librarian.  
  
"Willow, what are you doing here. Why aren't you in class?" Giles asked, somewhat surprised at the way Willow had stormed in and demanded to talk to him. It was very out of character for the girl.  
  
"This is more important than class. Besides, I have a free period, Study Hall. Remember the Dark Goddess you had me researching?" Giles nodded his head slightly. "Well, there's a lot more to it. Like The Immortal Slayer. You heard of her?"  
  
Giles looked away from her momentarily, trying to keep the guilt he felt from showing. It was hard to balance being a watcher with the relationships he had formed here in Sunnydale.  
  
"When were you going to tell me, tell us?" Willow asked, having caught Giles' diverted glance.  
  
"W-well, I wasn't meant to tell anyone, not even Buffy." Giles stammered, somewhat flustered by the information Willow shared.  
  
"But you did tell her didn't you?" An accusing tone took over her voice, as she tried to deal with the emotions that were still coursing through her body. Sleep was not her friend last night.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"And she didn't even tell me!" Willow let out a sigh, realizing getting all riled up at Giles wouldn't solve anything. She took a breath and sat down at the table where she had thrown her book bag moments ago. "Okay. Done freaking out now. I've actually found out quite a bit of information about The Immortal Slayer. Wanna compare notes?"  
  
"All right, I'll get my books that I've been using." Giles headed to his office, still a bit in shock at how in control Willow had been. He always knew she could be a leader if she wanted, but it was something different to see it in practice.  
  
Sitting down together in the library the small hacker and the watcher tried to make sense of all the information they had gathered. Not more than once did it seem hopeless that they would ever figure out the key to unlock this mystery.  
  
"Ooh, I've found something. Listen to this." Willow said excitedly. 'The Immortal Slayer will gain immortality during the lunar eclipse.' So they were right."  
  
"Who was right?" Giles responded with a questioning look.  
  
"Huh? Oh! The people on the website. They said something about the immortality coming during the lunar eclipse. They were right."  
  
"The website?" Giles asked, clueless as to what she was talking about.  
  
"There's not enough time to get into it right now. What else do we know?"  
  
"The Immortal Slayer is also known as the Universal Slayer or the Universal One. They may be different people, but everything leads me to believe they are the same person."  
  
"Angel mentioned that. Just how many names does one slayer need?" Willow asked with a smile, trying to break up the tension of impending doom that had taken over their conversation.  
  
"Yes, well," Giles started with an indulgent smile, "The Immortal Slayer unites all the other slayers of the world, the only concrete thing I can find is that she has magical powers. They will reach their full potential exactly one week after she has gained immortality. Do you know anything else?"  
  
"Yeah, she's supposed to have long fiery-red hair. Do you know of any slayer that has red hair?"  
  
Giles' head was reeling from all this information. Somehow she had found out more than he had and that was in itself highly improbable. It was all very confusing. "No, Willow, I don't know of any slayer that has red hair. How did you come to know about the other slayers, and the Immortal Slayer in the first place?"  
  
"Oh, I was researching that Dark Goddess, who is majorly bad. She would totally give Buffy the wiggins. Anyways, I came across a reference to The Immortal Slayer. And I started my website and asked them if they had heard of the Dark Goddess, then they started talking about the Immortal Slayer too. That's where I got a lot of the info on them."  
  
Giles nodded in response, still unsure of how she had come across a reference of the Immortal Slayer and confused by whatever website she was talking about.  
  
Willow took the nod as confirmation of understanding and reached for her bag, preparing to leave. "I have to go, or I'll be late for my next class." Reaching the door she turned back to him, "Thanks Giles."  
  
"Anytime Willow." Giles replied. 


	5. 

Part 5  
  
"Okay, so what's the Hellmouth spitting out now?" Buffy asked flippantly, trying to act nonchalant as she walked in the library for the Scooby Gang meeting. The rest of the gang was already seated around a table, books strewn all over the place.  
  
"Well, Buffy" Giles looked over at the young girl, "do you remember the Immortal Slayer we were talking about?"  
  
"Yeah." Buffy said slowly, surprise registering on her face as she took a seat. She didn't realize Giles was going to tell them everything at once.  
  
"Whoa, hold it right there. An Immortal Slayer? Anybody care to clue me in?" Xander asked with his usual sarcastic grin. "I mean I know we have some new big bad around, but this sounds…well…bigger."  
  
Giles looked over at the boy, realizing that he was the only one of them who had absolutely no idea of what was going on. Giles hoped he would not feel resentful for not having been told sooner. "Yes. The Immortal Slayer, also known as the Universal Slayer, is supposed to unite the slayers of the world to battle the Dark Goddess. I also know that she will have magical powers. Willow has also found out some things of interest."  
  
"Hold up." Xander said. "Slayers of the world?" He added as his eyebrows rose in disbelief. "Since when was there more than one slayer?" Xander punctuated his question by throwing his index finger up in the air.  
  
"How about when I died." Buffy put in sarcastically.  
  
Xander gave her a look of non-amusement, and then continued. "I know that. You found the loophole with the whole slayer thing. But that still doesn't explain 'slayers of the world'. Just how many are there?"  
  
"Twelve, actually." Giles answered the question as if he were indulging a small child. Raising his hands to his temples he tried to fight off the faint beginnings of a headache. "Now Willow, would you mind sharing the…ah…information you found with the rest of the group?"  
  
"Uhm, well, she's immortal, has really long red hair and she has slayer abilities. That's about all I know right now, but I guess we could check the website. I haven't checked it today. There could be something new." Willow replied with a shrug, feeling almost as if Giles had handed her the reins to lead this meeting.  
  
"The website?" Buffy asked, perplexed.  
  
"Yeah, I made it about a week or so ago. I tried to tell you all about it, but everyone was busy." Willow shrugged, trying not to show how disappointed she had felt. "We could look at it and see if there's any new info. I asked them about The Immortal Slayer and the Dark Goddess. Some of the messages relate, but a lot of people think it's all fake." The young girl sat down in front of the computer and tucked her hair behind her ears, looking up to the gang for the go ahead.  
  
Everyone crowded around Willow while she pulled up the website. "There are only a couple of new messages. Here's the first one."  
  
"~ The Dark Goddess is supposed to be a Master of the Black Arts, but it is a learned ability. ~ Slaygal"  
  
"I don't like that, but if it's not a natural ability, then we should have a better chance of defeating her." Willow reasoned.  
  
"~ The Dark Goddess brings faith to the vampiric race. ~ VampDuster"  
  
"Cryptic much?" Xander commented slowly shaking his head, he hated cryptic stuff, reminded him too much of Angel.  
  
"I don't know. That one's weird. Like they didn't want to say something on the website, after all it is public knowledge. Wonder what that could mean?" Willow mused out loud. "Oh, here's one more."  
  
"~The Universal Slayer is a wandering spirit, a timeless entity. ~ Luv2Slay"  
  
"That one's pretty cryptic too." Buffy commented, wondering how it would all piece together. She preferred fighting the baddie, not researching it. Sitting around trying to figure it all out just made her way too ancy.  
  
"We'll definitely have to check the books." Giles said, pinching the bridge of his nose. His headache that had been forming earlier was now a torment as he tried to concentrate.  
  
"That's all the new information that there is on the website. Does anyone know when the lunar eclipse is? And has the council talked about anyone with long red hair that might be the slayer?" Willow asked, in full research mode.  
  
"The lunar eclipse is this Friday night. The council hasn't said anything to me at all. Next Friday night will be when the Immortal Slayer gains her full magical abilities." He paused, thinking to himself for a moment. "Now if only we could find out when the Dark Goddess is going to show up, and where she's going to show up." Giles replied, getting into the research mode himself.  
  
"Well, I say she'll come to good ole Sunnydale, you know with the Hellmouth and all it just seems like a good place for a Dark Goddess to hang out. I'm gonna go do the patrolling thing, you know dust a couple of baddies…that is if I can find any." Buffy shrugged, excusing herself from the meeting.  
  
Walking out into the night air Buffy was glad to leave the library. Though the others may not have known it, Angel was at their little meeting. The blonde girl sighed heavily as she sat down on the curb. Even though it had been about a year since they split up, Buffy still couldn't stop her emotions from reacting when she was around him. Slowly she stood up, trying to banish these thoughts from her mind. She didn't need Angel anymore, not really. Over the past year Buffy had discovered more of who she really was, and had come to terms with that. She was at a point where being by herself was good for her. She was happy.  
  
***  
  
"The Dark Goddess" Xander mumbled. "Wonder if she looks anything like Cordelia? Cordelia could be a dark goddess. Which reminds me," Xander said, returning to his normal voice, "I gotta go. I have an important thing to do."  
  
As he ran out the door, Willow's mouth twisted into a small frown as she bitterly muttered "Yeah, like Cordelia is so important."  
  
Sitting in the shadows Angel caught the look that crossed Willow's face at the mention of Cordelia. It may not be the best time, but Angel decided to dispense the information he had gotten out of Willy. He actually did pay a visit to him last night, even if it wasn't the real reason he wanted to walk with Willow.  
  
Emerging from the shadows Angel spoke, "I was able to get some information out of Willy and some of the guys at his place."  
  
"Angel! I didn't realize you were here," Willow said, a startled look passing over her face. In embarrassment she found herself hoping he hadn't heard what she'd said about Cordelia. Wrinkling her brow in confusion Willow puzzled over the emotion. For some reason she didn't want the vampire to think anything bad of her, yet she wasn't sure if it was Angel in particular that evoked this feeling. Frowning Willow pulled her gaze away from the vampire forcing herself to focus instead on Giles as he began to question Angel's new information.  
  
"Angel, what's this information you have?" Giles asked, hoping it would help them unravel this mystery.  
  
"The Dark Goddess will be here Saturday."  
  
"Sat-Saturday? That doesn't give us much time, does it? We have to find out who this Immortal Slayer is." Giles commented with a heavy sigh. "Were you able to find out anything else?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Don't worry Giles, we'll do it. We've handled worse stuff than this. I'll send out e-mails to the people on the website and post some more messages and pour through tons of books and we'll have it knocked out in no time." The young girl tried to reassure the librarian as she started straightening up the mess strewn about the table.  
  
"Very well. Why don't you go home Willow, and continue your work. I'll clean up here. Angel, will you see her home? I know vampire activity has been down, but Sunnydale's still not a safe place."  
  
Angel replied to the affirmative with a nod of his head.  
  
"Get some sleep Giles, you're no good if you're tired." Willow admonished as she walked out the door with Angel.  
  
"I'll see you tomorrow." Giles called after her, preparing to look through some more books before he headed home for the night. 


	6. 

Part 6  
  
"So, I take it you don't like Cordelia?" Angel asked on the way home, with a small grin.  
  
"What makes you say that?" Willow replied, thinking with an inward groan that he must've heard her in the library.  
  
"Well, no one likes Cordelia. And I heard that comment in the library. She really gets under your skin, doesn't she?"  
  
"Yes, she does. But I don't want to get into it, and we're at my house anyways, and I have homework and research and…stuff, so this is me with the good byes. Bye." Willow hurriedly ended the walk and rushed through the door. Shutting it, she leaned against the other side, wondering why Xander couldn't be as observant as Angel.  
  
Slowly she headed up the stairs and to her room, trying to fight the feeling of depression slowly beginning to grow inside her. Xander was never going to notice her, and she needed to accept that. Overcome with the need for sleep, she didn't bother checking her website. She simply got into her pajamas, curled up in bed and quickly fell asleep.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Willow awoke the next morning, a sense of contentment coursing through her body, the after-effects of a very good dream. Slowly she stretched her arms above her head and let out a large yawn. Snuggling back into the covers she ignored the fact that it was time to get out of bed. As her alarm started blaring, she reluctantly gave in to reality. Quickly turning it off she threw back the covers and sat up, pain coursing through her head as she did so. "Aah!" she let out a small yell in surprise, wondering what could be pulling her hair. Standing up she felt the pain subside and realized she had been sitting on her hair.  
  
Willow let a small smile play across her lips, no big. She had pulled her own hair. Starting off towards the bathroom realization hit her. Her hair wasn't long enough for her to sit on. Grabbing the doorframe she twisted, trying to see the hair she knew shouldn't be there. She barely caught a glimpse before closing her eyes in disbelief, trying to will away the newly grown hair. Rushing to the mirror only confirmed what Willow had hoped wasn't true. Her hair had grown during the night, and was now barely above her knees.  
  
Grabbing the phone she dialed Buffy's number instinctively, needing her best friend to help make sense of this. As the phone rang, she prayed Buffy would answer and not her mom.  
  
"Hello."  
  
"Buffy, please get over here." Willow cried into the phone hysterically.  
  
"Willow, what's wrong? What's going on?" Buffy asked, concerned. Willow never panicked like this.  
  
"My hair. It's…it's… you have to see this to believe it. Please hurry."  
  
"Okay, Wills. Calm down. I'm on my way."  
  
Willow sat back down on the edge of the bed, holding her hair in one hand. She simply stared at it, trying to fight the queasy feeling her stomach had. As the initial shock wore off Willow began to get dressed, realizing she couldn't hide in her room all day. Putting on her shoes Willow heard the doorbell and ran to answer it, a renewed state of panic pulsing through her.  
  
"Buffy, help me." Willow pleaded, throwing the door open.  
  
Buffy froze in shock, mouth agape, as she looked upon her best friend. Eyes wild and hair not tamed and definitely not chin length, Willow looked as though she had passed panic and had now moved on to hysteria. This hair, Buffy thought in astonishment, was almost a living embodiment sloping across Willow's shuddering shoulders in a wild entangled mess. Closing her mouth quickly upon a new tremble in Willow's lip Buffy stepped inside the house, her fingers reaching out to touch the crimson abundance before saying "Willow! What happened to your hair? Did you grow it with magic or something?"  
  
"No. I don't know what's going on. That's why I called you."  
  
"There's more. Definitely more." Buffy circled the girl, "We have to get it out of your face, sit down and I'll braid it or something…then we'll head to the library and see if Giles can help us out."  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
  
  
Arriving at the library, Buffy and Willow headed over to the table where Giles was sitting. Hearing their entrance Giles looked up, preparing to greet the girls until he saw the looks on their faces. "Buffy, Willow, what's the matt-…" He stopped mid-sentence as Willow turned around and showed him the thick braid hanging down her back. "What's going on?"  
  
"That's what we want to know." Buffy replied, rolling her eyes.  
  
"I went to bed last night, normal Willow hair. I wake up this morning and it's like super-Willow hair or something. I mean, it's cool and all, but that's a lot of hair in one night." She said with animated facial expressions and lots of arm waving.  
  
"Yes Willow, I can see that. Uhm…"Giles paused, unsure of how to ask his question. "Isn't the Immortal Slayer supposed to have long red hair?" Giles asked slowly, reaching for a book.  
  
"Wait, no. Willow cannot be the Universal Slayer. Do you realize what you're saying? That's crazy. There is no way. Besides, how could she unite all the slayers?" Buffy replied, slightly frantic. She mainly didn't want her best friend to have that huge a responsibility, but there was also a small tinge of jealousy.  
  
Rather than feeling reassured, Willow was actually a bit annoyed at her friend's comments. No matter how irrational it may be, Willow felt like she was being dumped on when what she needed was support. "I don't know any of the other slayers besides Buffy and Faith. Plus, I didn't unite anyone and I'm definitely not immortal or anything."  
  
"Yes, but the Immortal Slayer isn't supposed to be immortal yet, and you already have a natural talent for magic, and you now have long red hair. How many different people have posted on your website?" Giles said, somewhat in disbelief that he was saying it.  
  
Buffy was alternating her stare between Giles and Willow, unsure of what to do.  
  
Sitting down at the computer Willow pulled up her website and began counting the names of people who had been posting pretty regularly. There were around twelve names, all implying something to do with slaying. Willow slowly looked up at Giles, a weak argument crossing her lips, "But I'm the sidekick."  
  
Giles smiled at the young girl's protest, "I'm afraid not Willow. I believe you could be the Immortal Slayer."  
  
Willow looked up to Buffy, trying to find reassurance that wasn't there. "Buffy, you're a slayer. Tell him, I'm not the Immortal Slayer."  
  
Buffy simply stared at her friend, still in shock. Then looked back up to Giles. "I..."she started, unsure of how to go on. Looking back at Willow she continued, "I posted on the site too, before I knew it was yours. I just happened across it and it was really cool. And when you showed it to us I was so surprised I didn't say anything. I figured it wouldn't matter…" She let her sentence trail off.  
  
"So I did unite all the slayers then." Willow let out a sigh as she rested her head on her hands. Raising her head back up to make eye contact with first Buffy and then Giles a grim look of acceptance crossed her face. "I'm the Immortal Slayer." 


	7. 

Part 7  
  
Walking into the library like he owned the place, Xander faltered when he saw the girl sitting at the computer. She looked familiar to him, yet he couldn't place her. "Hey Buffy, care to introduce me to your new friend?"  
  
Hearing the question Willow involuntarily shuddered. Turning around she replied, "Buffy's new friend is your old one."  
  
"Willow?" Xander looked at her in shock. "I'm so sorry. What happened to your hair?"  
  
"Xander, meet the Immortal Slayer." Buffy said trying to push the sound of pride into her voice. She was determined to support her friend, no matter how confused she felt.  
  
"The Immortal Slayer? You're the Immortal Slayer?" Xander stood speechless as he realized his whole world was changing. Without meaning to, his look of disbelief gave Willow the impression that he didn't have any confidence in her.  
  
Willow shot him a dark glare before standing up turning toward the door. "I've gotta go. I'll catch up with you all later."  
  
"Will!" Xander called out, trying to get his friend's attention. Willow kept walking, ignoring the pleading sound in his voice.  
  
Walking out of the school, Willow was unsure of her destination. She was paying more attention to the angry thoughts running around her mind instead. Xander had really upset her. A dark smile crossed her lips as Willow decided she could show him by kicking his ass one good time while she was saving the world. Finishing the thought a slightly panicked frown and a pair of raised eyebrows immediately replaced her smile. She had to save the world, from the Dark Goddess. Had the girl realized she was also currently skipping school, her slightly panicked look would have turned into one of hysterical disbelief.  
  
Willow slowed down enough to recognize where she was and found herself both surprised and pleased. The large structure of the mansion loomed in front of her. She knocked on the door, hoping Angel was awake, and wondered at the pleasure she felt in the thought.  
  
Cautiously looking out to see who was at the door, Angel became worried when he saw Willow's small form. "Come in." Angel said, carefully opening the door while remaining in the shadows. Willow walked in and turned to look at Angel as he pushed the door closed.  
  
Turning around, Angel raised an eyebrow in astonishment upon looking at Willow. There was a new maturity about her, but there was also a hint of fear in her eyes, and he longed to tell her everything would be okay.  
  
"Willow what's going on? Your hair…it's beautiful." Hurriedly he added, "It's different." Looking at Willow, he felt confused as emotion and reason battled in his mind. He found himself attracted to her knowing he shouldn't be. Uncomfortable, he took a seat before realizing she was talking, and forced himself to concentrate on her words.  
  
"Thanks. Everyone else just wants to know why it's so long. That's the first compliment I've gotten about it. What's going on? Where to start? I woke up this morning with super-Willow hair, then I found out I was the Immortal Slayer, then Xander was being stupid and I couldn't deal, so I ended up here. Just put up with me for a while, please?"  
  
Looking into Willow's pleading eyes, Angel suppressed the surprise he felt at hearing she was the Immortal Slayer.  
  
Uneasy with his silence Willow looked away from him, "I-I should go then? Is this just too weird for you?"  
  
"Willow. No. No, I'm here to listen if you want to talk. If you don't, I'm still here."  
  
Willow noticeably relaxed as she felt the acceptance she needed. Smiling weakly she began telling him the mixed up feelings she had experienced all day, and answered many of his silent questions. 


	8. 

Part 8  
  
The library had an air of tension as the gang assembled the next day. Buffy was unsure of her feelings towards Willow being the Immortal Slayer, Xander felt bad about Willow walking out the day before, and Giles was worried about everyone.  
  
Sitting down at the table Buffy, Xander, and Giles all began talking to Willow.  
  
Xander babbled, trying to make sure Willow wasn't upset with him. "Wills, I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings yesterday, I didn't mean to. I just wasn't prepared for the hair and the news that you're the Immortal Slayer and everything. It was just too much. I couldn't handle it all at once. I'm really sorry."  
  
"You know, being immortal wouldn't be all that great. Look at how bored a person can get now. Can you imagine that in like, yearlong spans? It would be torture. I'm so glad I'm it's not me." Buffy was saying; trying to cover the tinge of jealousy she felt, and convince herself being immortal really would suck.  
  
"Willow, are you prepared to deal with everything this endeavor entails? I know you don't have a choice, but you need to be careful. Slaying is a very hard and dangerous line of work." Giles wanted to take Willow under his wing, feeling responsible for her not only as a friend, but also as a watcher.  
  
"Everyone please just shut-up. I can't even hear my own thinking. Geez." Willow cried out with a sigh, feeling bombarded. As silence filled the room, she took a deep breath. Upon seeing the hurt looks on her friends' faces, she immediately apologized. "I'm sorry." Sighing, she looked at everyone, waiting to see what would happen next. Since they all remained quiet, Willow decided to start their meeting. "Giles, have we found anything else about the Dark Goddess? And what should I expect to happen tomorrow night? With the whole immortality thing?"  
  
"Uhm, I still don't have anything on the Dark Goddess, and I haven't found any references to your immortality either. I don't know what to tell you." Giles replied softly, feeling disturbed that he couldn't help the young girl when she needed it most.  
  
Willow nodded, she had expected as much. "Okay. I'll go over the website and make with the computer stuff, Xander, get your nose in the stacks. Buffy, why don't you help him? It's too early to go patrolling. Giles, look through your books and maybe the watcher's diaries? They might have something helpful." Realizing the gang was simply staring at her, Willow prodded them to get to work. "Okay people, let's go!"  
  
Mouths agape in surprise over Willows new assertiveness, everyone rushed off to separate corners of the library busying themselves in their work as Willow connected to the school's ISP." Shoulders sagging in disappointment, Willow checked her website only to find there were no new messages. Posting a quick message, she hoped some new information would turn up soon.  
  
~ Saille here. I need more info on the Dark Goddess and the Immortal Slayer. Does anyone know about the whole turning immortal thing? Is it like a ritual or what? Thanks! ~ Saille  
  
Logging into her e-mail account she bit her lip, hoping against hope that someone would have sent her and e-mail dealing with this whole immortal business. After sifting through the junk mail, she smiled as she saw a message with the subject line: Immortal Slayer info. Opening the message, she read it quickly.  
  
Saille,  
  
The Immortal Slayer must prepare for her new role. In order to do so she must seek out someone who is near immortal. She must also find the Dark Goddess' weakness if there is to be any hope of defeating her.  
  
CouncilGirl  
  
Puzzling over the 'one who is near immortal' part, Willow called out to Giles. "Hey Giles, I got an interesting e-mail. It says I need to speak to someone who is near immortal. How can you be near immortal?"  
  
Giles looked at the email over her shoulder, feeling as confused as Willow did. "Perhaps Buffy? Only she would have already told us if she had any information on your turning immortal."  
  
Hearing her name, Buffy looked down from the second level of books. "Hey, are you two talking about me?" She joked, giving a mock look of anger.  
  
"Of course not. We're trying to figure out this e-mail, it says to talk to someone who is near immortal. Any ideas?" Willow asked with a hopeful look on her face.  
  
Buffy paused a moment, trying to decide just what near immortal meant. "The only thing I can think of is vampires. They live forever, unless they're killed a certain way, so they're near immortal."  
  
"And the only vampire around here that would be of any help is Angel." Willow continued on Buffy's train of thought. "So I guess I need to go talk to Angel later. Now we still need to figure out what weakness the Dark Goddess has. Any clue as to who might know that one?" Willow asked, eyebrows raised. She was hoping for an encore performance of Buffy's problem solving ability.  
  
"Sorry." Buffy shrugged. "We'll have to figure that one out the hard way. Good old research. Yay." She added with sarcasm. Research had never been her strong point.  
  
"Yes, I believe Angel would be the only likely person. I'll begin trying to find some reference to the Dark Goddess' weakness. I wonder if Xander has found anything?" Giles flipped through a book as he talked, trying to find anything that might remotely be of use.  
  
"Yo, G-man! Check this out." Xander walked past Buffy and down the stairs, scanning the rest of the passage as he did so.  
  
"Right on cue." Willow said, rolling her eyes, as she and Giles walked over to the table.  
  
Following Xander down the stairs Buffy joined the group already clustered around Xander.  
  
"What have you found?" Giles asked  
  
"This DG is gonna go down. She's not immortal." Laying the book down on the table for all to see, Xander proudly showed off what he had found.  
  
Picking up the book Willow read it aloud. "The Dark Goddess walks the earth as a mortal. Magical powers protect her, but there is a missing link. To find this link you must first confront an enemy. Only he and his partner can provide the information you need to destroy the Dark Goddess. Wait until after immortality has been gained to confront this enemy or all will be lost." Willow grimaced. "How do we find this guy? And we have to wait until after I turn immortal? Why does it have to be so complicated? Why can't they say 'You're now immortal, go kill this chick' and there you go. A day's work complete and on with my life."  
  
"I think the stress is getting to you Wills. Chill out, we're here to help."  
  
"I know Xander. It's just still so new. Why couldn't it come in little steps or something?"  
  
"Not the Hellmouth style." Xander retorted.  
  
Willow smiled even though she didn't really want to. Xander was always able to lift her mood when she needed it. Looking over at him, her smile began to fade. Inwardly Willow groaned and told herself to focus on the bigger picture. She could moon over Xander later. "Okay, so we have to wait at least until sometime Saturday to be able to talk to this enemy. Why don't you two work on finding out who the enemy is," Willow pointed her fingers at Xander and Giles, "Buffy can go on patrol now and see if there's any rumors on the street, and I'm gonna go talk to Angel and see if he knows anything about what's supposed to happen to me tomorrow night. I would like to be at least a little prepared."  
  
Giles smiled seeing the determined look on her face. There was a store of strength in this girl that had only been touched upon so far. Over the next week, Giles knew that strength would be sorely tested. "We'll catch up with you tomorrow, I presume?"  
  
"Yeah Giles, I'll talk to you then." Willow waved as she headed out the door with Buffy behind her. The two girls walked in silence, giving each other mutual support. Before they headed off in different directions they hugged, each expressing what they couldn't put into words.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
The twilight Willow had left the library in now gave way to the enshrouding darkness of night. Nearing the mansion, she began to worry that Angel may have already gone out for the evening. The uncertainty of being able to talk to him added to her nervousness. If she weren't able to talk to him, then she would have literally no clue as to what might happen to her tomorrow night. Knocking on the door, she called out to him "Angel? Are you here?"  
  
Hearing Willow's voice Angel immediately felt a sense of anticipation at seeing her again. Walking over to open the door, he ignored all the questions this feeling brought to his mind.  
  
"Willow." He said with a small smile on his face. "Come on in."  
  
"Hi." Willow replied finding she was smiling back at him. Quickly she began talking to distract herself from the thoughts running through her mind. "Uhm, I'm supposed to talk to you, I think, about this whole turning immortal thing. I got an e-mail, and it said to talk to someone who is near immortal. And we figured you were the most likely candidate. So, do you know anything about it? The whole turning immortal thing?"  
  
"I talked to Whistler last night, and paid another visit to Willy's. After talking to them I found out some more about the immortality ritual, but they didn't know anything about the Dark Goddess."  
  
"Ritual?" Willow asked, a slight grimace crossing her face. Some rituals were not to be taken lightly. "Like really bad ritual or more like the kind I do with magic?"  
  
"I'd say you'd view this more on the bad side. The ritual is a form of magic, a higher order of magic that no one can control. You'll fall into a trance before the start of the eclipse, and an aura will surround your body. It won't be painful. The aura is due to the magical powers you already possess, working with the magical powers that will turn you immortal."  
  
"That's it? That doesn't sound all that bad."  
  
"There's more."  
  
"More?" Willow said, her forehead scrunched with worry. "That's the part I didn't want to hear," she groaned.  
  
"While in this trance you have no control over your body. I'm not sure what exactly will happen, but the magic will take over. Both magic's are at work here and you will succumb to their control." Angel paused, letting the meaning sink in. "At this point you may feel pain, but I don't know what that pain will be like. That's something only you will ever know. You may float in the air or you may attack someone or something. I'm not sure what exactly might happen. You need to be out in the open, and have Buffy there to keep an eye on you." Seeing Willow's face fall, then grow pale as he explained the ritual to her, Angel felt a bit resentful towards the powers that be for deciding he was the one to tell her about all this.  
  
"Okay." Willow said while sitting down. "Wow, that's a lot of stuff I didn't want to hear. I can deal with this. It's not until tomorrow. I can handle this. Will you be there too?" She asked, looking up to see the vampire's response.  
  
"Yeah, I'll be around."  
  
"Lurking as always. You're good at that. You may have to teach me how. That skill could definitely come in handy. Is that a skill you can teach someone, or is that something you just have to know how to do?"  
  
"With your red hair, I don't think you could ever lurk anywhere." Angel tried to joke with her, but he sounded as serious as he always did.  
  
Willow's face dropped. She could always cover her hair if she needed to. And it wouldn't always be this long, she hoped at least.  
  
Seeing her reaction Angel immediately felt sorry. "Willow, I'm sorry. That was a bad attempt at humor, it's never been my strong suit."  
  
"Humor, huh? We have to work on your delivery." Willow slowly bounced back. "Okay. Here's what I know. We have to find and confront an enemy who has a partner, but I can't meet him until after I'm immortal. This enemy knows the weakness that the dark goddess has. I was sent an e-mail that told me to find the Dark Goddess' weakness, and then Xander actually found a mention of it in a book. So, any ideas there?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Not a thing?" Willow asked in such a pleading voice that Angel couldn't help letting out a small laugh.  
  
Surprised at hearing him laugh, Willow looked up at him, before laughing herself. This had definitely been a weird week. As she listened to him laugh softly, she found her gaze drawn toward his lips. Willow halted her laughter immediately upon realizing what she was doing. This was Angel, she couldn't think of him like that.  
  
As the silence filled the air where Willow's laughter once was, Angel's laugh died off and he looked at her questioningly. She had stopped so suddenly it left him wondering what the cause could be. Somewhat saddened he thought of how good it had felt to really laugh again. "Willow, is anything wrong?" Angel asked her cautiously.  
  
"Huh? Oh, no. Nothing's wrong. I'm just tired. Thanks for the info. Guess I'll see you tomorrow night at the whole immortality ritual thing. Can't wait. I'll talk to you later. " Rushing out the door, thoughts running rampant, Willow did not notice two vampires off to one side of the mansion entrance.  
  
Angel quietly followed Willow, knowing something was up. She babbled and then ducked out when she didn't want to deal with something, he had pretty much figured that out when they talked briefly about Cordelia earlier in the week. Only he didn't know what the problem was here. Being grabbed from behind Angel was caught off guard. As he recovered he yelled out "Willow!" to get her attention. His worry wasn't focused on the vampire holding him; rather it was on Willow as there was a vampire approaching her.  
  
Hearing her name Willow whirled around, still unsettled from the thought of Angel's lips, and stared straight into the face of the second vamp. Fear crossed her features as she became aware the vampire was already grabbing her arms. As he leaned in toward her, saying, "The Dark Goddess wants you," he abruptly turned to dust as Angel staked him from behind. Angel caught a glimpse of gratitude cross Willow's face through the ash before her knees weakened, and she tumbled to the ground. It wasn't long before strong arms lifted her back to a standing position.  
  
"Willow, are you all right?" Concern was etched over Angel's face. If anything had happened to her…he didn't let himself finish that thought, filled with more emotion than just the fate of Sunnydale.  
  
"Yeah, I'm okay. I think." She replied, adrenaline coursing through her body even as she struggled to stay standing. "He said the Dark Goddess wanted me?" She half asked. "If he said that, then she knows who I am. She knows I'm the Immortal Slayer. Oh god, she knows." Looking up at Angel fear and panic mixed in her eyes. 


	9. 

Part 9  
  
Bolting up out of bed, Willow placed one hand over her rapidly beating heart. Feeling the thump-thump and knowing her heart was in her chest where it belonged, she sighed and began to calm. The clock said 2:13 a.m. She simply sat there, hand over her heart, replaying the awful nightmare in her mind. She was waiting for the immortality ritual to begin, and this dark, shadowy figure grabbed her from behind before reaching around her body and pulling out her heart. Willow shuddered just thinking of it. That vampire last night had really scared her, and if the Dark Goddess knew who she was there was a whole new world open where anything could go wrong. Sitting in the dark Willow jumped as she heard a sound outside the window.  
  
"Willow? Willow?"  
  
Slowly pushing the covers off of her and lowering her feet to the floor, Willow's gaze never left the window, where someone was outside calling to her. Shivering, more from the fear of the nightmare than anything else, she walked to the window and cautiously looked out. Standing on the ground below was a figure, and Willow's heart skipped a beat as the image from the nightmare freshly resurfaced in her mind. As the figure stepped into the light of a streetlamp, Willow calmed, recognizing Angel's face.  
  
"Willow, are you all right? I heard a scream." Angel asked, concern creasing his brow.  
  
"I'm fine. Just a nightmare. A really scary, freaky, bad nightmare, but still just a nightmare. Did I really scream?" Willow asked, thinking the scream had only been part of the nightmare. She bit her lip knowing the nightmare must have affected her more than she wanted to admit.  
  
"Yeah. Are you sure you're okay?"  
  
"I'm fine. Have you been out there all night?"  
  
Angel shrugged nonchalantly while saying "Pretty much."  
  
Willow smiled. "Thanks." Going back to bed, she felt a sense of security and was able to sleep peacefully the rest of the night.  
  
*****  
  
Willow sat on her bed, not wanting to face the day ahead of her. Today was the day of the immortality ritual. She was frightened, thinking of all the things that could go wrong, all the things that might happen to her before the ritual actually began. She had crumbled last night when face to face with a vampire, what would happen when she had to actually face the Dark Goddess? Thinking of it made cold chills run down her back, while she also felt ashamed of the way she had handled herself.  
  
Yawning, she got off the bed and began the morning routine of getting ready for school. As she put on her jeans and a t-shirt, Willow began wondering how an Immortal Slayer would dress. Maybe some signature piece of clothing, like that black jacket Spike always wears. Maybe leather pants, or a cool pair of boots, or a special stake kinda like Mr. Pointy that Kendra had given to Buffy. Looking into the mirror Willow sighed. "Who am I kidding?" She said out loud, a feeling of disappointment evident in her tone.  
  
*****  
  
School was uneventful, except for the endless comments on her newly grown hair, and Willow was happy that she got a good grade on her latest test. As the school day closed, the Scooby-gang met in the library to discuss the plans for the night.  
  
"Hi everyone." Willow said as she walked through the door smiling.  
  
"Hey Wills, why the happiness? Did you finally realize that being immortal was a cool thing?" Xander asked with a raised eyebrow and a grin.  
  
"No, and did you have to remind me? I was happy because I aced my test." Willow said as she sat down heavily. "So, what's the scoop? Any news?" Willow asked with a hopeful look.  
  
"Umm, that would be a big fat no, right G-man?"  
  
"Yes, Xander. I'm sorry Willow, but we haven't been able to find out anything. And now we must concentrate on making sure you're safe tonight."  
  
"Especially since she knows." Willow said almost under her breath. She hated to make them even more worried about her, but she knew they needed to know.  
  
"Don't worry, I've got that cov…what did you just say?" Buffy asked in the middle of reassuring the gang that Willow would be safe.  
  
"She knows. The Dark Goddess. She knows who I am." Willow stated softly, almost cringing from the shocked faces in front of her.  
  
"How does she know?" Buffy asked quietly with and edge to her tone. She wasn't upset with her friend; really she was just very worried for Willow.  
  
Slowly Willow shook her head. "I don't know how she knows. Last night after talking to Angel a couple of vampires attacked us. The one that got to me said that the Dark Goddess wanted me, and then he turned to dust as Angel staked him, which is a really good thing because he already had a hold of both of my arms, and I think he was gonna bite me, and then I had this awful nightmare last night where this shadow person tore out my heart…" She faltered, unable to continue with the images she had just described running through her head.  
  
Xander lightly placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay Willow. Calm down. We're not going to let anything happen to you." The conviction in his voice was evident.  
  
Willow looked down at his hand and then looked back up at his face. Half- heartedly she realized that his touch didn't affect her like it always had before. Barely getting the corners of her lips to raise, she replied, "I know. So we're off…" Willow started to say.  
  
"To see the wonderful Wizard of Oz?" Xander finished for her in an attempt to get at least half a smile.  
  
"No Xander, only your twisted little head would want to go to Oz for an immortality ritual. We live in the real world. When you get back to Kansas, be sure to let us know." Buffy said as she rolled her eyes. Sometimes she just didn't get Xander's sense of humor.  
  
"Twisted little head? I'm offended." Xander replied, a mock look of indignation on his face.  
  
With a small smile Willow responded, "Yeah Xander, I'm sure you are. Anyways, I was going to say to the cemetery. That's the best place to go that I can think of, and no one will be around." Seeing the look on Buffy's face she added, "No humans at least."  
  
"Let's go." Buffy said while walking out the door.  
  
*****  
  
"We've been here, waiting, for over an hour. We didn't get the day wrong did we? Please tell me we didn't. I don't think I could handle that right now." Willow asked with a slightly panicked look on her face.  
  
"This is the right night Willow. As hard as it is, please do try to calm down a bit." Giles replied.  
  
"Okay, you're right." Willow said, pacing between two tombstones. "It's just that I'm turning immortal and I'm kinda freaked about the whole thing and then we just sit here and wait, so my anticipation builds with every passing second and I become even more freaked out." Willow spat in one breath. "But you're right. I should just calm down." Sitting down on the ground Willow thought that theory was definitely easier said than done. Her nerves were shot from all the happenings over the past week.  
  
Unsure of herself Willow thought she sensed someone else in the cemetery. Looking around and seeing nothing she dismissed the feeling.  
  
"Hey Wills." Xander said sitting down beside her on the grass. "How ya doing?"  
  
With a shrug she replied, "I'm okay, I guess. I'm not sure if I've really dealt with everything that's happened yet. I feel like I'm on emotional overload."  
  
Reaching over and giving her a hug Xander tried his best to reassure her. "It'll be okay Willow. We'll make it through this. I'm here for you every step of the way. We'll survive this."  
  
"Thanks Xander." Willow hugged him back, allowing herself to calm down a little bit.  
  
*****  
  
While they were talking, Angel quietly walked up to Giles and pulled him aside, not wanting the others to see.  
  
"I need to tell you something. I didn't tell Willow because I didn't want her to worry any more than need be." Angel looked at Giles with concern on his face.  
  
"Is she in danger?" Giles asked quickly, fear flitting across his face.  
  
"No, no more than expected. It's just that after the ritual she's going to be different. She's not going to be Willow anymore."  
  
"What do you mean she won't be Willow?" Buffy asked, eavesdropping on the conversation.  
  
Slightly surprised Angel and Giles looked up at her.  
  
"Well, answer the question." Buffy commanded.  
  
Sighing slightly, Angel continued. "Well, she's going to adopt a new identity. A different identity. Her attitudes will change and she may even give herself a new name. I'm not sure how far it will go."  
  
"Why would the ritual change her like that? I don't get it." Buffy said, afraid of losing her best friend.  
  
"Unfortunately, I think I understand." Giles stated, removing his glasses to clean the imaginary dust on them. "It seems that due to the nature of Willow's change, and the powers that are changing her, she has to adopt this new identity to survive becoming the Immortal Slayer."  
  
"But… Isn't there anything we can do?" Buffy replied with a stricken look on her face. "I don't want to lose Willow." She added softly.  
  
"It will be the worst right after the ritual is complete. At that moment she will have no memories of her life, instead she will be consumed by all the memories of past slayers. This is why you must make sure she is protected, as well as yourselves. There is no way to predict what will happen." Angel explained with a sad look on his face. He had grown rather fond of his friendship with Willow, and didn't want to lose her either.  
  
"Angel, how long will this last? Her memories and everything will come back, won't they?" Buffy asked, still shocked by what her friend would go through.  
  
"Yes, she will regain her memories. Except for a tougher attitude and the possibility of a new name, she will become Willow again. The part I don't know is how long it will take her to regain her memories. A few hours, a few days, maybe even a few years."  
  
"And since she's immortal it could even be a few centuries." Buffy stated, voicing what Angel hadn't wanted to say.  
  
*****  
  
Taking a deep breath Willow stretched out on the grass and looked up at the sky. So many beautiful stars she thought as a feeling of peace filled her soul. Just then the few clouds in the night sky parted to reveal a full moon.  
  
At first Willow thought the clouds were on fire as they let the moon shine through. The moon itself was what seemed to be on fire. Staring up at it Willow was filled with awe, and a feeling that this burning moon would decide her destiny.  
  
The eclipse was at its peak, causing the discoloration of the moon. It was midnight when Willow first saw the moon and began her transformation. Buffy, Giles, Angel, and Xander looked in wonder, first at the moon, then at Willow's slowly rising body surrounded by an aura that matched the moon.  
  
As Willow felt her body lose contact with the ground she was filled with a pervading sense of destiny. She was being drawn toward the moon, her life pulsing within it. The burning moon was her destiny. It was then that a band of vampires attacked, hoping to destroy the Immortal Slayer without the ritual being completed. Neither Buffy nor anyone else had time to react as the vampires turned to dust, rushing towards the rising body. Before allowing her mind to succumb to the magic engulfing her, Willow knew that she had destroyed the vampires, or something within her had.  
  
As the ritual continued and Willow began to absorb the magics that would turn her immortal, she softly groaned. The more she absorbed the louder she became, until her wail was the only thing anyone in the surrounding area could hear. Xander ran towards Willow, ready to grab her, only to be stopped by Angel.  
  
"Let me go, now!" Xander cried, pushing and shoving against Angel.  
  
"No, Xander. We can't interfere. You have to let her be." Angel restrained the boy, knowing that if the ritual were interrupted all could be lost.  
  
"But listen to her, she's in pain." Xander argued, trying to shove past Angel one last time.  
  
"I know she's in pain." Angel replied, his face contorted with worry. To him she sounded as if she was dying, and there was nothing neither he nor anyone else could do to stop it.  
  
"Xander?" Buffy said, laying her hand on his arm. "We're all worried about her, but this is her fate, we can't change it."  
  
"I know, Buffy. But it's so hard. I mean, listen to her."  
  
Buffy nodded slightly, tears threatening to blur her vision. "We have to stay strong for her Xander. We have to help her through this."  
  
Sighing, Xander walked away from Angel and leaned against a tombstone. Angel walked back over and stood in front of Willow, watching her and wishing he could take her pain away.  
  
Standing in the shadows a cloaked figure watched and waited, hoping to learn the secrets from the ritual of the Immortal Slayer. 


	10. 

Part 10  
  
Willow's body rotated as she floated mid-air, ten feet off the ground. To everyone's relief she had stopped rising and was now quiet. She looked like a limp rag doll, body arched with arms and legs hanging lifeless. There almost appeared to be an invisible string attached to her abdomen, and she was simply suspended from it.  
  
Everyone was watching her, afraid of what might happen, and how she might change.  
  
In the air, Willow's body stopped rotating and she was abruptly released. The transformation was complete and she was now immortal. Everyone ran for her, all knowing they'd be too late to keep her from hitting the ground. As the magic holding her body dissipated, Willow began falling. With only mere seconds before she hit the ground, Willow rolled and tucked her body into a ball.  
  
She then landed gracefully, crouched like a cat waiting to pounce.  
  
The gang had stopped short when they saw her moving in the air, now they formed a semi-circle around her, faces filled with confusion and worry. Seeing Willow in an attack position Xander was slightly confused. "Willow?" He asked hesitantly, "Are you okay?"  
  
Keeping her head low, Willow looked up so her long hair framed her face. "Willow?" she asked back.  
  
Xander turned pale with shock, "Yes. You're Willow. You know you're Willow, you've always been Willow, you'll always be Willow…" Out of fear Xander babbled, not even realizing what he was saying.  
  
"I am not Willow." Eyes glinting, she slowly stood and surveyed the small group in front of her. The boy was nothing more than a bumbling fool in her mind. The girl, she was a slayer. One of her chosen ones. The man was the girl's watcher, also handpicked, whenever the council didn't screw it up at least. The other male, he was a vampire. Curious, she sprang into action.  
  
In a blur she ran past Buffy and tackled Angel, a stake lightly denting the skin above his heart. "You have a soul." She said, betraying no emotion. "Very well, I will keep an eye on you." She warned as she got up. That explained the vampire.  
  
Walking over to Buffy she handed her the stake. "This is yours."  
  
Buffy simply stared at her, and then looked over at the rest of the group as she took back her stake.  
  
"Where can I stay tonight?" she asked the man she knew was the watcher.  
  
"Umm, well, I suppose..." Giles started, before Angel interrupted "You can stay with me." Angel knew the others would be uncomfortable around her for a while, and he wanted to talk to her. He needed to find out some more about this, to find out what happened to Willow. She was a totally different person now. Angel then remembered a thought he had had about Willow during the ritual. 'She sounds like she's dying.' Now Angel thought that in a way, maybe she had.  
  
A hardness set into Willow's face as the new entity contemplated the vampire's offer. She didn't know what unlikely connection he had to this group of people, or to the girl whose body she now inhabited. She looked back to the watcher, trying to decide the best course of action.  
  
"Angel, do you really think that's wise? With Willow having been attacked there once already, I believe she would be safer staying with me, or Buffy perhaps." Giles didn't want to endanger the girl any more than necessary.  
  
"So I've been expected, all the more reason to follow the vampire. Let's go," she said, walking off. Angel quickly followed after her, throwing Buffy a determined look. Somehow he would get her to talk.  
  
Buffy looked over at Giles, trying to adjust to Willow, or rather Willow's absence, as the Immortal Slayer. "Giles, Is that really what Angel meant? It seems worse somehow. I know he said she would lose her memory, but I thought it would…I don't know…be different."  
  
"I wish I knew what to tell you Buffy, but I don't. We need to get prepared for the Dark Goddess to emerge now that the ritual is complete."  
  
The figure hidden in the shadows fought the urge to laugh out loud. "I'm already here," she thought, before leaving the cemetery to commence her own preparations.  
  
"Hold up" Xander said, walking closer to Buffy. "What exactly did you mean 'is this really what Angel meant'? What did Angel tell you?" Xander drilled, looking Buffy dead in the eyes.  
  
Buffy winced at the hurt she saw in Xander's eyes. No one had told him about what Angel had said. "Angel told Giles, and me, that Willow would lose her memory during the ritual in order to be able to deal with absorbing all the memories of past slayers. Unfortunately he was right. He also said she would regain her memories, but he didn't know when."  
  
"Why didn't anyone tell me?" Xander demanded, looking over at Giles and then back to Buffy.  
  
"Xander, I…we didn't think…I didn't…I'm sorry Xander." Buffy replied, knowing she should have told him.  
  
Xander sighed, his face softening. "It's okay Buffy. So, now we wait for the Dark Goddess. Is there anything we can do?"  
  
"I suggest we all go home and get some sleep. We'll need to be in full research mode tomorrow. Angel will take care of Willow…or whoever she is. Tomorrow we can meet back up with them and see what's going on." Giles said, as they started walking away from the cemetery.  
  
*****  
  
At the end of the ritual Willow couldn't understand what was going on. She tried to force her thoughts through, tried to make herself be heard, but she couldn't do it. Vaguely she thought she saw Buffy, Xander, and Giles. But she wasn't sure. Suddenly she felt her body moving, but didn't know why. Then she saw Angel. She knew it was Angel, but she couldn't communicate with him. Something was controlling her. Controlling her mind as well as her body. Unable to fight any longer, Willow allowed herself to collapse and let whatever was controlling her take over. Her last thoughts were wondering whether or not the ritual had worked. 


	11. Chapter 11

Part 11  
  
Angel leaned back against the slate wall, his gaze fixed intently upon Astra. He was unsure of how much he wanted to trust her, this person who looked and sounded like the Willow he knew. It was disconcerting to see Willow, yet know that's not who she was. Watching her he noticed not only a confidence that Willow exhibited rarely, but also cockiness that Willow never had. Astra was currently walking around the living room going through whatever she felt like messing with. She had rifled through his books already and was now running her hand over the back of the couch with disdain. Obviously there was more to the ritual than what he or the gang had been able to find out. Whatever had happened to Willow, it was more than just losing her memory. Angel was resolved to find out the truth about the matter. And the best way he could do that was to make Astra talk.  
  
"All right. What happened to Willow? And just who the hell are you?" Angel asked, or rather demanded as he walked towards Astra.  
  
Turning to face him, Astra replied with no real expression on her face. "Well, that was blunt."  
  
"It's one of my specialties. Willow was supposed to lose her memories after the ritual. But you're not Willow at all."  
  
"Blunt and insightful." Astra said, a raised eyebrow the only feature to betray any emotion to the vampire. She upheld her arrogant demeanor, although she was just as unsettled as this vampire was. She had never before tried to inhabit a body and the experience was rather taxing. Until she knew more about this group of people surrounding Willow, she would not allow her limitations to show.  
  
Angel had to exert all his self-control not to morph into his vampire visage, or do something worse. All his emotions were running high and this girl was sitting there, mocking him.  
  
Astra crossed her arms and allowed a slight smirk to creep onto her face. She could see the tension in his body as he tried to control his emotions. She decided she liked this vampire. Taking a seat in the chair Astra sat back, crossed her legs and tried to keep a cool composure. She found it very hard to fight the urge to fidget.  
  
"What's the deal? Who are you?"  
  
Sighing softly, she let a little bit of her guard down. She didn't want to overwhelm him, and she had to know he was ready. "I'm Astra, the Universal Slayer. A separate entity from the body I now inhabit."  
  
"So what have you done to Willow?"  
  
"Nothing. She's here, just as she was. She's safe. There is no need to worry about her." Astra replied, waiting to see his reaction.  
  
"Somehow, that's not very reassuring." Angel said in a low voice that resembled a growl.  
  
"I assure you nothing has happened to Willow."  
  
"Yes, something has happened to Willow. Or I would be talking to Willow now. What, exactly, did the ritual do?" Angel asked, tiring of her vague answers.  
  
"The ritual allowed me to enter Willow's body and …take over, if you will." Astra was slightly surprised at just how insightful and persistent this vampire was. She didn't think she'd be explaining herself so soon.  
  
"Why did you have to take over?"  
  
"It was necessary."  
  
"Be glad you're in Willow's body." Angel mumbled under his breath, turning away from her. He wanted answers.  
  
"Why?" Astra asked in a firm, clear voice to the back of his head.  
  
Angel turned and looked at her, slightly surprised. "Because otherwise I would use any means necessary to make you talk. I want answers." He spoke those three words as if each were a sentence of its own.  
  
Astra smiled as she looked at Angel, intrigued. "Good. That pleases me."  
  
Once again Angel was taken by surprise. He threatened her and yet she was pleased? Tensing the muscles in his body, he decided to wait for her to continue.  
  
"Yes. That pleases me. It shows that you will do anything necessary to protect what you love, even if it means doing nothing at all. Your strength and composure show that you will be a far greater asset than I first thought." Astra said, smiling. "Perhaps now I should inform you a little more about me. That is after you tell me about your group of acquaintances."  
  
Angel walked over to the couch and sat down, leaning forward on his knees, and simply waited for her questions. He did not allow his mind to focus on what Astra had just said 'protect what you love' because he'd be lost in a world of tumultuous thoughts if he did so. Right now he had to focus on the bigger problem. Contemplating something that he felt couldn't be wouldn't help any.  
  
Astra's forehead creased as she puzzled over what could cause the dazed look on Angel's face as he sat down. She desperately wanted to ask him what his thoughts were, but knew that would only raise his defenses. Pulling her legs up under her in the chair she settled in for a long conversation. Once she began, she knew it would last a long time. They both had many questions to ask the other.  
  
*****  
  
The next day the gang congregated in the library, focusing on researching the Dark Goddess, while waiting to hear something from Angel.  
  
As the phone began ringing everyone jumped at the noise. Smiling nervously at being caught so off guard Giles hurried over to answer it. Buffy and Xander waited impatiently to hear what was going on.  
  
"That was Angel. He said he would meet us here shortly after sunset." Giles told Buffy and Xander as he hung up the phone.  
  
"That's all?" Buffy asked, her tone almost childish as she hoped for information about her friend.  
  
Giles nodded slightly, "Yes Buffy, that's all he said."  
  
"Well, I guess we should go into research mode, right? Try and find out who these past enemies are or whatever." Xander said, feeling helpless because there was nothing he could do for Willow.  
  
"Yes, Xander. Although it seems we've lost a great benefit without Willow here to man the computer." Giles said, immediately wishing he hadn't. Buffy and Xander's faces fell; they were both worried for their friend.  
  
"I'll pound away on the computer as best I can," Buffy offered, "and you two can hit the books."  
  
"Thank you Buffy. Be sure to check Willow's webpage, I think she has it…uh…marked or something." Giles said.  
  
"Sure thing, I'm on it." Buffy replied.  
  
Sitting down at the computer she looked through the sites that were already bookmarked. Slayers Anonymous, that's the one I need. Within a few clicks she was on the right page. Now she had to pick out the messages that might actually mean something. After thoroughly going over them she called for Giles and Xander to come over.  
  
"Well, I found Willow's site, and here are the messages I thought might actually help. I think Willow told them about needing to find an enemy from the past and everything."  
  
~ Saille, the 'enemy from the past' you seek is someone who would not join forces with the Dark Goddess. Please be careful. ~ CouncilGirl  
  
~ This pair of enemies you're looking for, I'm pretty sure they're a couple. At least that's what the books I've found point to. ~ Liv4slayin  
  
"This is sounding more and more like Spike and Dru. I don't like it." Buffy said, expressing her discomfort at the idea that they might have to go to Spike for information.  
  
*****  
  
Angel and Astra showed up at the library right after the sun went down. As they walked in Buffy, Giles, and Xander all looked up and fixed their stares on the form of Willow as if they could make her return.  
  
"Hello Angel" Buffy said, crossing her arms in a mixture of defiance and self-protection, while her gaze was still pinned on Astra. Buffy was unsure of what emotions to let through and how she should act towards this new person.  
  
"Astra has a bit of explaining to do. It will help you all to understand what is going on with her and Willow." Angel told the rest of the gang as he took a seat and motioned for them to do the same.  
  
"Okay, let's hear it." Buffy said sitting down glancing nervously at Giles and Xander's worried faces. They were all curious to know exactly what was going on.  
  
"My name is Astra. I'm the Universal Slayer. I was here when the first slayer was born, and I will be here when the last slayer dies." Astra paused, allowing the others to fully comprehend what she was saying. They were having a hard time separating Willow from Astra since they were unsure of what was going on. Buffy looked over at Angel, signaling him to clarify what Astra had just said.  
  
"Astra is separate from Willow. A totally separate entity…" Angel started, as Astra broke in.  
  
"Yes. I am not Willow at all as far as the mind goes. I have inhabited her body."  
  
"You've taken over Willow's body and mind? So what happened to Willow?" Buffy asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.  
  
"Willow's mind is still intact. I have only exerted control over it for the time being. I have chosen Willow to become the Immortal Slayer. I took over so I could slowly infuse all the information I have into her mind. She will gain the knowledge of every slayer who has perished. I chose Willow because of her knowledge of magic. I needed someone with a natural ability who could encompass all that I had to offer. By inhabiting her body I am allowing a part of myself to stay with her. This is how she will become immortal. I am also going to help her to defeat the Dark Goddess."  
  
"How long until Willow is Willow again?" Xander asked, only wanting his best friend back.  
  
"I'm not sure. Her mind is not yet ready to handle all the information I am giving her. Perhaps another week."  
  
Almost everyone in the room gave a sigh, not wanting to wait that long to be sure that Willow was okay.  
  
"So, you're not Willow at all?" Buffy asked.  
  
"No. I am Astra."  
  
"The Universal Slayer and The Immortal Slayer are two separate entities then, correct?" Giles asked, thinking it would have been easier if he had known that all along.  
  
"Yes. I am the Universal Slayer. I am responsible for creating the slayers and the Watcher's Council. I knew I would need help in this fight against vampires and demons. I have handpicked every slayer. I have handpicked most of the watchers for those slayers. The Council does not always do my bidding though."  
  
"Wait. So you're the one who forced this destiny on my shoulders? Why did it have to be me? Why did you choose me?" Buffy was finally able to ask someone who could give her the answer.  
  
"Because, Buffy, you are strong hearted and strong willed. I knew you would be able to handle your calling. And that you would force everyone involved to think outside the lines. You are not afraid to challenge authority, but you are also not afraid to follow the rules." Astra told Buffy the truth and hoped it would help the girl feel less burdened. Buffy was her best slayer yet.  
  
Buffy looked at Astra, the anger subsiding from her facial features, and allowed herself to believe what Astra had said. Buffy was amazed that someone thought that high of her. As she looked over at Giles, she realized he thought that, and even more. Slowly Buffy allowed a small smile to come across her face as she realized how lucky she really was. 


	12. Chapter 12

1.1 Part 12  
  
Dark foreboding clouds covered the sky as Astra walked to the library. She felt more at ease around Angel and knew that without him the rest of the group was likely to be distant. Without being threatening she was allowed to participate, but that's all it was. The group did not accept her as a part of them. Of course, why should they when they barely knew her? She had taken over one of their friends, and while it was only for a few days Astra realized it must be hard for them to deal with that. Taking a calming breath she entered the library, unsure of how everyone would react.  
  
Much to her surprise, they didn't even notice her. Every single one of them had their heads buried in some book, trying to find any bit of information that might help. Curious, she sat down in a vacant chair and simply waited to see just how long it would take them to notice someone else was there. They really should be more on their guard with so much going on.  
  
A few minutes later Xander looked up, and promptly yelled "Aaaahhhh!" The others jumped startled and looked up to see what had caused him to yell.  
  
"Don't ever do that again. Geez." Xander admonished while regaining his composure. "Were you just waiting to scare the wits out of us? Give yourself a little ego boost?"  
  
"No, Xander. I wanted to know how long it would take you to realize someone else was in the room. I was only here a few minutes, but that's long enough for an enemy to have surprise attacked one of you. In the future, pay more attention." She replied as her anger began rising. Who was this boy to be judging her?  
  
Buffy astounded them all by agreeing. "You're right Astra. We should have heard you come in. We all feel the library is a safe place and sometimes forget to be on our guard here."  
  
"Yes, just remember we're in a battle now where too much is at stake to lose because you were caught unaware."  
  
"Excuse me Astra," Xander butted in before she could continue, "you don't by chance have a better time frame for when Willow's gonna be back in control, do you?"  
  
Everyone looked at Astra expectantly as Xander vocalized what they were thinking.  
  
"Willow has a strong mind. She will be ready either tomorrow night, or the next morning." Astra replied, quite pleased that Willow would be ready so soon. She had been prepared for this formation to take at least a week, if not longer. It had only been a few days and already Astra could tell that Willow was becoming stronger. Soon she would have to focus hard to stay in control and keep Willow from taking over on her own.  
  
"We need to find out more about the enemy from the past, and the Dark Goddess. The book we found earlier said that we had to wait until after the ritual to confront this enemy. Since the ritual is over we need to find out who they are." Giles talked out loud, but was mostly regrouping his thoughts.  
  
"Well," Buffy said, "I'll pound away on the computer again."  
  
"No, let me." Astra volunteered. "I have access to Willow's computer knowledge." She offered as Buffy looked over at her.  
  
"By all means then." Buffy replied, glad to give up the computer.  
  
While Buffy and Xander worked with Giles, Astra sat down at the computer. She immediately went to Willow's website and read all the messages.  
  
"These are my slayers, posting here on the website." Astra thought out loud. "It's good to know they're all ready, whatever may happen." Astra furrowed her brow as she realized that not all of her slayers were accounted for.  
  
"What's the matter Astra?" Buffy asked, seeing the dark look on Astra's face.  
  
"Oh, nothing." Astra replied, looking up. "I'm just tired. I've never inhabited a body before. It's quite taxing." Astra continued, reasoning it wasn't a total lie.  
  
"Okay, if you're sure." Buffy said. She still had an uneasy feeling about this, like maybe Astra was trying to hide something.  
  
Astra decided she would do some checking before she jumped to any conclusions. She didn't want to worry the gang, but since this Dark Goddess was supposed to be a slayer, it made her increasingly nervous.  
  
*****  
  
The day had passed quickly and was steadily progressing into night as the gang continued working at the library.  
  
"Well, I still think this enemy from the past is Spike and Dru. But I don't know how we're going to find them." Buffy said, sighing. Everyone was worn out from a long day of researching without really making any progress.  
  
"Shouldn't be too hard luv." Spike said as he strolled in. Everyone looked up in astonishment. They were all thinking it was just a bit too easy. Immediately they were wary, wanting to know what was up for Spike to show up at just the right moment.  
  
"Spike, how nice of you to stop by." Buffy commented, her guard going up.  
  
"Calm down now. I don't want to fight. I just thought that maybe we could join forces until this whole Dark Goddess thing is over. My baby Dru has some valuable information, what with her visions and all."  
  
Buffy relaxed just a little; after all they had worked with Spike before. "So why didn't you join forces with the newest big bad in town?" She asked sarcastically.  
  
"Because it's not me." Spike replied. "The hellmouth is my turf and I don't like it when someone else butts in. Besides, Dru had a vision and we came to the realization that we didn't really want to work with this Dark Goddess person."  
  
"So, what did this vision show you?" Buffy prodded.  
  
"What, you want all the specifics or something?" Spike grinned sarcastically.  
  
Buffy threw her hands up in the air. It never got any easier to deal with him. "Maybe it will help us defeat her. Get rid of her, ya know. Isn't that what you want?"  
  
"All right. She was only going to kill us after we helped her defeat you. Happy, pet?"  
  
"So she was gonna use you to get what she wanted and then dust you so you wouldn't be a threat. Makes sense to me." Xander commented with a shrug.  
  
"Is that the only reason you came to us?" Giles asked, feeling as though there were more to this meeting than what Spike was saying.  
  
"Yes." Spike said, rolling his eyes. "I want to get rid of her as much as you do. I'm suggesting a short truce until she's defeated. Then I go back to my life, you go back to yours."  
  
"What if we don't believe you?" Astra said, standing up confidently.  
  
"Well, Red, seems like you've gotten some guts since last time I saw you. I promise we won't hurt your pretty little neck, for the time being at least." Spike said mockingly.  
  
Walking over to him Astra replied, "I'm not worried about my neck. What I want to know is what's in it for you? What are you trying to get out of this, besides keeping your butt undead?"  
  
"I want the Dark Goddess destroyed. Same as you." Spike said.  
  
"I still don't believe you." Astra stated. "But we'll work on that later."  
  
"Right, and I suppose you'll beat the information right out me too." Spike said as he rolled his eyes again.  
  
"If I have to. For now, I'd like to work on something else. You've killed two slayers, right?"  
  
"You're a quick one Red. Two of them, and since this isn't new information…" Spike finished, his tone dry and bored as he eyed the red head wondering what brought about her sudden interest in his history with slayers.  
  
"Two of my slayers." Astra stated, a menacing look on her face.  
  
"Your slayers?" Spike looked at Willow as though she had gone insane.  
  
"Yes. My Slayers. I don't like it when my slayers are murdered. And you murdered two of them."  
  
Spike looked over Astra's shoulder to where Buffy stood. "What the bloody hell is she talking about?" He asked.  
  
Buffy just shrugged. She enjoyed seeing Spike squirm. It was an occurrence that didn't happen very often.  
  
"Willow. Red, luv, you're talking crazy. Did you hit your head or something?"  
  
"Willow. I'm not Willow." Astra replied.  
  
Spike threw his hands up in the air. "What is going on here?"  
  
"Hello Spike." Angel said as he stepped out of the shadows.  
  
"Well," Spike said focusing on Angel instead of Astra for the moment, "I was wondering when you would show up. Can't be around the slayer without having the soulful vamp along, can you?" Spike smirked. "I'll take this as my cue to leave. I'll be in touch. Hey Red, keep the fire in you. I like it." Spike sneered as he walked out the door.  
  
Angel and the others sat down and talked about what had happened. They filled Angel in and he gave a small grin at hearing about Spike's confusion. "It's always fun to see Spike squirm." He said, giving the group a feeling that he was talking about more than today's events.  
  
As they all began preparing to leave, Xander decided to ask something he was wondering about. "Out of curiosity," he started, "What does the long hair have to do with being the immortal slayer? Is the hair really that big a deal?"  
  
Astra smiled. "No." She confessed. "Actually, I was being selfish. I've always wanted long red hair. I figured that at least for a few days I could have it." Astra explained, laughing softly. Not for the first time she longed to be a human instead of the Universal Slayer.  
  
They ended the day in better spirits and headed home. For a little while they were able to escape the fact that the world was in trouble, and once again they were the heroes. 


	13. Chapter 13

Part 13  
  
Astra paced nervously across the floor of the mansion. Hearing Angel come out of his room she took a deep breath and sat down, trying to gain some composure.  
  
Walking across the room to the couch Angel sat down, he leaned forward and looked at Astra. "How long have you been pacing in here?"  
  
Astra looked up at him, her expression mimicking that of a child with her hand caught in the cookie jar. "Only a little bit. Did I wake you?" She asked, an edge to her voice. Grabbing the arms of the chair she launched herself up and pretended to study the ornate design on the rug in front of the door.  
  
Inwardly she groaned. She wasn't sure why but she felt as though she could have no weaknesses. All her life she had always been important and in control. To show weakness was almost like betraying her duty. Yet she had never faced so great a challenge as she faced now. To inhabit Willow's body and try to infuse all the memories and thoughts of past slayers was strenuous. Astra sighed softly and admitted the truth to herself; she was scared. She still had her doubts about what she was doing and even the Universal Slayer could make mistakes.  
  
"No, you didn't wake me." Angel sat back and watched Astra staring intently at the rug.  
  
"You have a beautiful rug." Astra said as she walked back over to the chair. "I love the design." She continued absentmindedly running her hands over the back of the chair. She wanted to share some of her thoughts with Angel but was unsure of what the reaction may be. Combining that with her doubts and the weirdness of being in a human body made Astra unbearably nervous.  
  
Angel took in the distracted look on Astra's face, but decided to stick with the topic of the rug. "It's one of my favorite pieces. I acquired it in Ireland. The design is simply one of Celtic knots, only done with many intertwining strands, making it look much more elaborate than it really is."  
  
Astra mutely agreed nodding her head, not really having heard what Angel had said about the rug. Her thoughts were still turned inward and she found herself struggling more and more to fight off the doubts she had. The more she thought about it, the harder it was.  
  
"Astra."  
  
She continued to stare off blankly, lost in her thoughts.  
  
"Astra." Angel said again, putting more emphasis on the word, trying to rouse Astra from her thoughts.  
  
Astra looked up, recalling she had said something about the rug, and vaguely wondering what Angel had said in return. Sitting down in the chair she pulled her legs up under her and gave the vampire a slight smile. "Sorry. Sometimes thoughts are louder than words."  
  
"I can identify with that feeling." Angel said softly as he walked across the room and leaned against the wall, enjoying the feel of the cool stone against his forehead. He knew there was something bothering Astra, but was unsure of how he might be able to help. Talking to Willow would have been so much easier, and thinking of her Angel realized how much he missed her. Pressing his hands against the stone to either side of his head he began thinking how much Willow and Astra were interconnected now. If Astra were this unsettled, it would affect Willow after she regained control of her body. Rolling over he pressed back against the wall and looked at the small form sitting in the chair. There was more to Astra than just a cocky confidence. Cautiously he walked over to the chair and squatted down beside of it.  
  
"How can I help you?"  
  
Hearing those words Astra was unsure of how to react. He was being sincere. No one had ever really offered to help her before; usually she forced it upon them because it was necessary, as she had done with Willow. As her thoughts turned to Willow, Astra decided to trust this vampire.  
  
"Distract me?"  
  
"Distract you?" Angel repeated what she had said, somewhat taken aback at the simple answer when he had been expecting her to actually open up to him. She puzzled him more than anyone else he had known.  
  
"Yes. I need to do something so I'm not thinking about how confining it is to be in a body. I can't stop fidgeting and I just don't know what to do with myself." A half pleading look centered on Astra's face as she tried to explain her need to be distracted.  
  
"We can train. Willow's body is not used to physically fighting and it would help to condition her muscles." Angel began pushing furniture towards the walls, to clear the middle of the room.  
  
"I need some different clothes." Astra stated before walking off down the hallway towards the room she had been given. She was wearing a long skirt and sweater of Willow's that Buffy had given to her the day after the ritual. Now she was hoping there had been some shorts and a t-shirt in the stack also.  
  
Astra changed quickly; hoping training would be sufficient enough to quiet her thoughts. She had never before had to physically fight so this experience would be new to her as well as Willow. Walking back into the living room she took a quick breath as she saw the muscular Angel in a tank top. As the feeling passed Astra felt more confused than ever. The feelings of human emotions were very intense for her, with this body having so many ways to react. Astra felt emotions in her original form, but they never varied so much. She also realized that Willow was much stronger and her thoughts began merging with Astra's. Smiling Astra hoped this training session would bring Angel and Willow that much closer.  
  
Vampire and Slayer began trading blows, allowing the techniques to consume their minds. For now only the two of them existed and they had to spar in order to survive. The morning turned to afternoon as they matched blow for blow, and afternoon was soon slipping away as well.  
  
******  
  
"I've got to get out of here." Buffy looked up from the book she had been going over all evening. "The words just don't make sense anymore. Even the normal ones." She said, adding an emphasis to the word normal. "I say its time to go Bronzing. Who's with me?"  
  
"What's Bronzing?" Astra asked, walking into the library with Angel. "It sounds peculiar." She added, the uncertainty evident in her voice.  
  
"I think the only way for you to understand would be to experience it first hand. Wouldn't you agree Xander?" Buffy prodded her friend with a wide- eyed look. There was no way she was going to spend the evening researching with Giles.  
  
"Uhh, yeah. Definitely. It's no good unless you've been there. Words wouldn't do it justice."  
  
"Buffy, are you certain…" Giles started even though Buffy and Xander had already started collecting their things.  
  
"Giles, we've been researching like non-stop. Please, give us a break."  
  
"Very well." Giles conceded, knowing he was fighting a losing battle. Once that girl got something into her head there was no stopping her. "Do be careful and remember, the Dark Goddess is not to be taken lightly."  
  
"Right, no problem." Xander called back as he and Buffy steered Angel and Astra out the door.  
  
"Good timing you two." Buffy said with a smile. "I couldn't study those books another minute, even if my life depended on it."  
  
"Which it very well might." Xander threw in grinning himself. "At any rate I'm glad to get out of there though. I feel like I've been living in the library."  
  
"Glad to help." Astra said, "but could you give me some clue as to what Bronzing is?"  
  
"The Bronze is a small club here in town. It's a place for people to congregate." Angel simply stated.  
  
"People hang out, enjoy one another's company, dance and have a good old time." Xander said, then added, "Usually at least. Sometimes it does attract vampires and such."  
  
"Sounds interesting." Astra said, unsure of how to react. She had seen such places before, but usually found them loud and raucous and very uninviting in general. She hoped fervently that this would be a better experience for the mere fact that she could actually experience it.  
  
"I have to go home and change. Why don't we meet at the Bronze in like an hour?" Buffy suggested, looking down at her rumpled clothes. Research did not agree with looking good.  
  
"What should I wear?" Astra quickly asked, hoping she might be allowed to accompany Buffy. According to Willow's thoughts, the two had a lot of fun getting ready to do things like this. Not to mention Astra wanted Buffy to trust her a little more, and figured this could be the remedy. "Is there anything in that stack of clothes you gave me that might work?"  
  
Buffy grinned at the thought of dressing Willow up in her clothes, although it wasn't really Willow she would be dressing. "You could come with me, if you want. I have a lot of outfits that would look awesome on you."  
  
Astra smiled as she waved to Angel and turned following Buffy.  
  
*****  
  
Astra sat perched on the edge of Buffy's bed, feeling out of place. Buffy had invited her along, but it felt like there was still a wall between them. Astra wanted to know Buffy, in a way she had never allowed herself to interact with any of the slayers. As time went by and Astra matured along with the world, she realized that a closer relationship to the slayers could be allowed. Granted she had to be careful and keep some measure of distance. But there was no reason she couldn't allow herself to become friends with them. She relaxed a little more as she realized she had become friends with Angel, so becoming friends with Buffy was possible too. Astra also couldn't help but wonder if her desire to befriend this slayer in particular didn't have something do with the girl whose body she was occupying.  
  
"You have a nice room." Astra rotated her gaze around the room, taking in the vanity, the bedside table, and the various pictures. "It looks very safe and comfortable."  
  
"Thanks." Buffy replied while rooting through her closet. She was looking for a particular dark green dress she had that would go great with Astra's long red hair. "Ah ha! Here, try this on. " She said while tossing the dress to Astra.  
  
Astra held up the dress in front of her as Buffy began going through her clothes again. It was sleeveless, with thick shoulder straps and a low cut neckline designed to accentuate the breasts. Blending into the dark green material was an embroidered design of ivy adding a subtle texture to the rich material. The design roamed across the whole dress, adding emphasis to al the right places. Astra slowly ran her hands over the velvety material and grew very excited. She quickly began changing to see what this dress might feel like on her body, the satin lining against her skin.  
  
Looking into the mirror Astra took in a quick breath as she became filled with awe. This body she inhabited was very fit, and the dress hugged every curve the way it was supposed to. With her bright hair and pale skin, she looked ethereal and Astra wondered for a moment if she might really be glowing. Tearing her eyes away from the mirror, she looked over at Buffy. "It's – it's perfect. Thank you."  
  
Buffy looked up and saw a confident young woman, rather than her shy friend Willow. Seeing the wetness behind Astra's eyes Buffy realized this experience was totally new to her. "You're welcome. It looks great on you. You will definitely have to convince Willow to keep that dress. I could never pull that off."  
  
Astra stared the blonde girl, not sure how to react. This was the first time anyone had so willingly given her something, and for no reason other than the fact that she liked it so much. As the tears started sliding down her cheeks a troubled look came onto her face.  
  
"Astra, is something wrong?" Buffy walked over and handed Astra a tissue.  
  
"No, everything's fine. It's great." She managed to choke out, finding her throat was tight as well. "It's just so nice of you, and I'm so happy…" she trailed off, desperately trying to regain her control, letting out a small laugh surprising Buffy. "It would take years for me to get used to all these emotions."  
  
Buffy grinned and felt the distance between them slowly disappearing. "I guess it would be hard if you weren't prepared for all of this. I mean I'm sure you know a lot about humans and all, but being stuck in a body would be weird if you're not used to it." Buffy took in a deep breath as she prepared to tell Astra how she felt. "I'm sorry I've been so edgy with you, now I realize just how hard this must be for you. Maybe even like when I first realized what slaying really was. You also have to understand that none of us were prepared for you to completely take over Willow. I'm willing to try and be friends, if you'll accept that."  
  
Astra smiled softly. "I think I'd like that."  
  
The two girls hurried to finish getting ready, hoping they wouldn't be late. 


	14. Chapter 14

Part 14  
  
Walking into The Bronze Astra was greeted by an onslaught of sights and sounds. She paused, causing Angel to run into her. Buffy and Xander were already lost to her among the haze caused by a fog machine.  
  
"What's wrong?" Angel asked, wondering of the atmosphere of the Bronze might be a bit much for her.  
  
"What?" Astra felt as though her head were threatening to explode. All the different things going on were assailing her senses.  
  
Angel gently steered her toward a table in a somewhat quieter spot on the floor. Sitting down she took another look around the place, to really see what was going on. The dance floor was packed, people moving their bodies in ways Astra would never have thought possible. There were some people sitting and talking, though not very many. After noticing a couple making out by the stairs Astra looked up to see another level. She felt bombarded by all the people doing so many various things.  
  
"I feel like I'm gonna go crazy. I don't know who or what to pay attention to." Astra looked back over at Angel deciding she would never be able to take this all in.  
  
"It can be overwhelming. Try sitting back, closing your eyes and concentrating on the band. Then keep letting a little more in." Astra sat back and tried to focus on the band. They were playing a good song with a strong beat, and a slow melody. Soon she allowed herself to hear the different sounds of the bar, and the clink of pool balls. Slowly she opened her eyes and searched out Buffy and Xander on the dance floor. Rotating her gaze around the room she became uncomfortable as she looked into Angel's eyes. The quiet yearning Astra saw there was more than she could handle.  
  
"Hey guys." Buffy said walking up to the table with Xander trailing behind. Astra was only too happy to turn her attention to Buffy. Angel's stare had left her unsettled and she felt it was meant more for Willow than herself.  
  
"So, how do you like the Bronze?" Xander asked Astra as he leaned against the back of a vacant chair.  
  
"It's okay." Astra shrugged, still unsure of how she felt.  
  
"Only okay?" Xander's voice sounded incredulous as he turned her reply into a question. "Come on." He grabbed Astra's hand leading her onto the dance floor. "If dead boy there won't entertain you, then I will."  
  
Astra smiled as she disappeared into the middle of the writhing mass of people on the dance floor.  
  
*****  
  
"So, Astra seems pretty okay. Any better idea of when Willow will be back?" Buffy looked around, trying to keep an awkward silence at bay.  
  
His voice heavy Angel replied. "No. She hasn't told me any more than she's told you."  
  
Buffy heard the agitation and could see it in his demeanor as well. Hoping she wasn't overstepping any boundaries she softly voiced her thoughts. "You miss her, don't you?"  
  
"Of course I miss her. She's my friend too." Angel snapped without realizing it.  
  
"I know Angel, but you miss her more than that, don't you?" She asked again, her voice catching in her throat.  
  
Angel looked over at her then and saw the shine to her eyes. "Yes, Buffy. I do." He stated honestly.  
  
Buffy kind of nodded, unsure of herself. She didn't know what to feel right now. To be honest she had known the friendship between Willow and Angel had been growing stronger. Since Astra took over Willow's body Buffy had also noticed Angel's anxiousness, his longing looks, and his worried glances. In a way she was jealous that Willow could affect Angel in such a strong way and that Willow could be with him forever where Buffy never could have. In another part of her heart, Buffy hoped the two would find the happiness they both deserved.  
  
Wiping the unshed tears from her eyes she looked up at Angel. "You hurt her in any way, you ever break her heart and I'll kill you." She paused a moment to let Angel see the seriousness of her threat and then to lighten the mood she jokingly added, "As long as I'm alive at least. Although I'm sure I could find a way to come back as a ghost or something and kill you then."  
  
Both Buffy and Angel fell silent as Xander returned to the table with Astra.  
  
"So, what do you think of the Bronze now?" Xander asked as he took a seat.  
  
"I definitely like the dancing, although I'm totally worn out. How many songs did we dance to anyway?"  
  
"Four I think. Maybe we can make with the dancing some more after a much needed break."  
  
Astra smiled catching her breath. Clutching the edge of the table she was sure she'd fall over if she didn't sit down. Exhausted she lowered herself into the last empty chair surrounding the table.  
  
"Hey, Buff, you wanna join us next time?" Xander waited a moment and getting no response began waving his hand in front of her face. "Hello. Earth to Buffy."  
  
"Huh?" Buffy smiled apologetically as she shared a look with Angel; a silent agreement that they were okay with each other.  
  
"I'll get us some drinks." Angel offered excusing himself from the table.  
  
Astra stared after him only able to wonder what the look shared with Buffy might have meant. 


	15. Chapter 15

Part 15  
  
Sitting in the mansion later that same night, Astra looked over at Angel.  
  
"Willow will be back in control by morning. I am sure she is ready now. You need to stay close by, for when Willow awakens she will be confused and unsure of herself. Keep her calm. I will still be here, in Willow's mind, until after we defeat the Dark Goddess. Keep her here tomorrow; she needs to be able to adjust to what has happened to her. I am going to give her full control, and allow you to tell her about me before I communicate with her."  
  
Angel looked at her with a grave face. He was worried for Willow and was also unsure of how he should act. He didn't know how to voice his concerns to Astra, so he kept silent. She could tell something was bothering him.  
  
"Angel," she began, " Just be there for her tomorrow. Talk to her. Listen to her. Be yourself. She's going to need someone she can trust, someone who understands what she's going through. You are that person." Astra answered Angel's unvoiced questions.  
  
Angel looked up at Astra. There was more to her than just an attitude. He hoped that after the battle they would be able to keep in touch. His thoughts then turned back to Willow. He was worried about her, but he also couldn't wait to see her again. As he restlessly paced the floor Astra lay down to go to sleep, and slowly allow Willow to regain control of her body.  
  
*****  
  
Her thoughts muddled, Willow slowly awoke. She looked around the room, unsure of where she was. Her gaze settled on the sleeping form of Angel and she then remembered the ritual.  
  
"Angel?" Willow softly asked.  
  
The vampire slowly opened his eyes to see Willow starting down at him from the bed.  
  
"What's going on?" Willow asked, feeling as though she were ready to cry. She felt different, but didn't understand why.  
  
Angel quickly got up and pulled on a shirt. He sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at Willow.  
  
"What do you remember?"  
  
"Well, I remember the ritual, floating in the air and then falling.and I remember seeing you but I couldn't say anything. I tried to keep control, I really did. And I fought so hard but I just couldn't do it." A tear rolled down her cheek as she looked back up. "Angel, what's happening to me? What took control of my body, of my mind?"  
  
Angel got up off the bed and started pacing again, not sure what to say he startled himself when he bluntly answered, "You are now the Immortal Slayer."  
  
"So the ritual worked? That's good. I guess. But.that ritual allowed something to take over my body. What was that?"  
  
Angel stopped pacing and looked down at her, at the childlike innocence in her eyes, the total trust. He didn't feel he deserved that trust, didn't like the vulnerability he saw within her at this moment. Astra had told him to be himself, that he was the one who needed to be there for Willow. He swallowed and decided to take the direct approach. "You were inhabited by the spirit of the Universal Slayer."  
  
Willow looked at him so earnestly it would've taken his breath away.  
  
"The Universal Slayer?" She asked, more confused than ever.  
  
"Yes. The Universal Slayer and the Immortal Slayer are two separate entities. The Universal Slayer inhabited your body. I didn't know that would happen." He added, as he saw the look on Willow's face.  
  
Willow sat there, looking at him. She believed him, but it was hard to grasp.  
  
"How long did she have control?" She asked, choked from the tears that threatened to spill over.  
  
Angel looked at her, wanting to take all her fears and doubts away but not knowing how to do it. Quietly, he told her. "Three days. Today is Tuesday."  
  
"Tuesday?" She practically yelled looking away from Angel. She didn't want him to see the accusing look on her face. She didn't know why she was accusing him, or really what she was accusing him of. It was simply her first reaction. Slowly she looked back up at him as the tears started to run down her cheeks.  
  
"I can't do this Angel. I thought I could." she paused, looking away as she choked on the tears. "I thought I could, but I can't. It's too much. I can't handle it." She finished, looking up at Angel for support.  
  
Angel sat down on the bed, and without realizing it began brushing the tears from her face. "You can, Willow. You've been chosen for a great honor. You have the strength inside you, I know you do. You can do this. You have to do this. This is your destiny."  
  
Willow closed her eyes and took deep breaths to calm herself. She thought of all the times Buffy had tried to run from her destiny and how she always had to accept it. Willow knew that running wouldn't solve anything, and crying wasn't going to get her anywhere either.  
  
Angel watched Willow as she sat there, and saw the resolved look come onto her face. Angel felt relief pour through him as he realized she was not going to break, that she would make it through this.  
  
As Willow opened her eyes she said, "Tell me more about this Universal Slayer."  
  
*****  
  
That evening Willow walked with Angel to the library. He had filled her in on everything that had happened. Most of it she had accepted by now.  
  
"So, Astra is still in my head? Like I could talk to her if I wanted?"  
  
"Yes, I suppose you could." Angel replied.  
  
"I'm not ready for that. You don't think she'd just start talking to me, do ya? I mean I can't handle that right now. The rest of it is enough. I just need to deal with what I know so far then I can deal with that. That should be okay, right?"  
  
Angel smiled before he replied. "Yes, I'm sure that Astra understands what you're going through and won't force anything on you."  
  
Willow let out a deep breath. "Well, that's good. Dealing with Buffy and Xander and Giles is going to be hard enough for tonight." She said as they walked into the school.  
  
A few moments later they were standing in front of the library.  
  
"Well, I guess it's time for us to go in." Willow said, sounding as though she'd rather be anywhere else at the moment.  
  
"Willow, look at me." She looked up, her face full of fear. "These are your best friends. They love you Willow, and they will be happy to have you back. You are still Willow. They need to know you're okay. They need your help with this prophecy. But most of all, they just need you."  
  
Willow sighed as she followed Angel into the library, wondering if he might need her too.  
  
Buffy looked up as she heard the doors to the library open. "Hey Angel. Hey." she stopped mid-sentence, realizing that this was not the confident entrance of Astra.  
  
Xander and Giles looked up, wondering what had caused Buffy to become speechless.  
  
"Willow?" Buffy asked, running to hug her. Xander and Giles soon followed suit.  
  
"Hey! It hasn't been that long. Geez." Willow said as she was almost tackled.  
  
Buffy, Xander, and Giles all stepped back and mumbled, "Sorry."  
  
"So, you back to feelin' all Willowy again?" Xander asked with a smile.  
  
"I.I guess. I don't really remember much about being non-Willowy. Angel kinda filled me in and all but there aren't many memories about the past couple of." Willow's sentence trailed off with several different looks crossing her features. The most striking one being disbelief. With the blush of embarrassment tinting her cheeks she looked first to Xander, then Angel and finally Buffy to ask in a whisper, "Did I really wear that green dress?"  
  
Buffy grinned. 'Yes. And you're going to keep it. I insist."  
  
"We'll see." Willow said quickly before changing the subject. Having two days worth of memories suddenly pop into her head was kinda weird. "Am I in trouble for totally skipping two days of classes? Or did ya come up with some really good reason for my absence?" A crinkled nose and a hopeful glance accompanied her question.  
  
"You were sick." Buffy stated.  
  
"That's all? I'm sure you could've come up with something better." Taking a seat Willow began to randomly flip through a book lying on the table.  
  
"Yeah, but it was the whole believability factor, ruins good excuses every time." Xander slapped the table to stress his point.  
  
Laughing softly Willow was glad to be back in the company of her friends, reassured that no matter what they would always accept her. 


	16. Chapter 16

Spike paced the floor of his lair, growing more and more agitated with Willow. "Something's not right here. Her slayers? She's a bloody teenager. How the hell can they be her slayers?"  
  
"Can we go play now?" Dru asked, a hopeful look in her eyes. She loved playing with the Scooby gang.  
  
"Yeah, we can. Let's go."  
  
With a devious grin on her face Dru followed Spike, heading for the library.  
  
*****  
  
Spike slammed open the library doors. "All right Red, what's your deal?"  
  
Willow looked up, the confusion evident on her face. "My deal?" She asked with raised eyebrows.  
  
Spike only became angrier and walked over to her. Meanwhile Dru was distracting the rest of the gang.  
  
In Willow's face now, Spike again said, "What's your deal?"  
  
As Buffy started over to defend her friend, Willow gave her a look that told her to stop. Willow would take care of this herself.  
  
"I don't know what's going on with you Spike, but you need to back off." Willow said evenly.  
  
"Back off?" Spike said with a grin and look towards Dru. "You think I should back off? That's funny, really." Finishing his words he threw a right hook towards Willow's face.  
  
Willow blocked his punch and jumped back. "What was that for?" she asked.  
  
"I want to know what's going on with you. How could I have murdered two of your slayers?"  
  
"My slayers?" Willow asked with a confused look. "What are you talking about?"  
  
Dru walked up behind Spike, curling her arms around him as she gave Willow a pouty look. "We know you're different. We just don't know how."  
  
Willow stared at them for a moment, realization sinking in. "You're supposed to be helping us, why do you want to fight me?"  
  
"Because no one will tell me what's going on. I figure beating it out of you is as good a way as any." Finishing that sentence he threw a punch that knocked Willow across the table she had been standing in front of. Spike shoved the table out of the way and grabbed Willow's shirt, jerking her out of the floor.  
  
"One more time Luv, what is going on?"  
  
"I'm the Immortal Slayer, Spike." She spat out his name while throwing a punch to his stomach. Spike let go of Willow's shirt and stumbled back from the force.  
  
"Well, I see you still have some of that fire in you. Goody, it will make this more fun." Spike smirked as he threw another punch at Willow.  
  
Willow pulled her arm up in front of her face and managed to stop Spike's punch. Holding his wrist in place she continued ignoring the fact that Spike had even spoken. "Besides that, I don't know what the hell you're talking about."  
  
Spike signaled Dru with a look and she slowly eased around the scene, coming in behind of Willow. Before anyone could react Spike kicked Willow in the stomach, causing her to fall backwards, into the arms of Drusilla. Buffy rushed forward, tackling Willow to the floor.  
  
"Doesn't look very immortal to me." Spike laughed as he and Dru headed out the door.  
  
Buffy quickly jumped back up, prepared to fight Drusilla, Spike, or both only to find them gone. Looking back down at Willow she slowly slumped to the floor, tears stinging her eyes. Willow's throat lay open, blood seeping across the floor.  
  
Angel walked in to see Buffy, Xander, and Giles crowded around a body in the floor. He rushed forward, fearing to see what had happened. Willow's eyes glossed over as she passed her gaze over their faces, finally resting on Angel before losing sight.  
  
Faintly she heard a voice, telling her to hold on, to concentrate. Gathering as much energy as she had left Willow focused on the voice as best as she could. ".your mind on my voice. Concentrate with me. You will not die."  
  
"But I'm already dying." Willow cried out in her mind.  
  
"You will not die, but if you don't work with me you will be unconscious for several days. We can't afford that right now. Concentrate on healing. Picture your wounds closing. Imagine your body becoming whole and strong again."  
  
Willow closed her eyes and fought the feeling of death seeping into her mind. Slowly her breathing became regular again and she could feel the blood pumping through her body more forcefully. After a few moments she opened her eyes and carefully sat up. Everyone jumped up and crowded around the table they had laid Willow on.  
  
"Willow?" Buffy stated, saying so much more than just her name. Sorrow and relief mixed, preventing her from saying any more.  
  
Willow gave a half smile, touched that her friends were so concerned. "I'm okay. I'm gonna be fine." She reassured them. "Astra talked to me, helped me focus on healing. I'll probably still be a little weak for a couple of days, but that's why I was able to heal so quickly." Willow turned and eased off the table. As she stood again a wave a nausea and dizziness caused her to grab onto Xander.  
  
"Whoa. Take it easy Willow, you were pretty much dead. I guess two hours is a pretty quick recovery."  
  
"Two hours? It only felt like a few minutes to me. I'm going to need some clothes, I can't go home like this."  
  
"Come back to the mansion with me. I still have some of your clothes there, and you can get some rest." Angel offered.  
  
"Okay." Willow agreed, exchanging her grip from Xander's arm to that of Angel's. Walking out of the library Willow stumbled and almost fell. "Guess almost dying took more out of me than I thought." Without asking Angel picked Willow up in his arms, where she fell asleep immediately from exhaustion.  
  
***  
  
Angel shifted Willow to a standing position so he could open the door. Eyes fluttering on the edge of wakefulness the sound of the door bouncing off the wall snapped them open. Angel quietly cursed; he hadn't meant to push the door so hard.  
  
Willow straightened up, expecting to see the hallway outside the library, her eyes seeing into the mansion instead. "We're here already? How'd we get here so fast? Did you carry me the whole way? You could've made me walk." Willow rambled as she headed towards the bathroom and a washrag. Her first priority was cleaning herself up.  
  
"I figured you needed to rest. Are you feeling any stronger?"  
  
"Yeah, I am actually." Willow peeped around the bathroom door, "Where are my clothes? This rag's not cutting it, I'm going to have to take a hot shower." Quickly she ducked back in the bathroom to hide the blush traveling up her face. "Why couldn't I have just asked for my clothes?" she mumbled to herself, feeling embarrassed.  
  
"I'll get them for you."  
  
Willow began running water to get it adjusted to the right temperature. With the events of the day pressing down on her she quickly undressed and got into the shower. The hot water soothed her muscles and calmed her nerves.  
  
Angel stood outside the bathroom door holding Willow's clothes. He had assumed Willow would wait before she got in the shower. Now he didn't know what to do. The emotions between them were growing and he knew they would have to be confronted soon. He just didn't want to make that happen while Willow was in the shower. That kind of confrontation he was not ready for. His arm raised midway to the door before lowering back to his side. Quietly he set the clothes on the floor instead. 


End file.
